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1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.1.1Super start for Barnhill-led Gatorshttp://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/super-start-for-barnhill-led-gators/
http://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/super-start-for-barnhill-led-gators/#commentsSat, 25 May 2019 02:52:21 +0000http://www.gatorsports.com/?p=43133Kelly Barnhill only threw one perfect inning Friday night, but she still gave Florida the perfect start to the NCAA Gainesville Super Regional. The senior continued her rampage through the postseason with a three-hit shutout, pitching around mistakes all night, as Florida beat Tennessee 3-0 in the first game of the best-of-three series. Fifth-seeded Florida […]

]]>Kelly Barnhill only threw one perfect inning Friday night, but she still gave Florida the perfect start to the NCAA Gainesville Super Regional.

The senior continued her rampage through the postseason with a three-hit shutout, pitching around mistakes all night, as Florida beat Tennessee 3-0 in the first game of the best-of-three series.

Fifth-seeded Florida (48-15) can advance to the Women’s College World Series for the 10th time with a win in Saturday’s 6 p.m. game. No. 12 seed Tennessee (42-16) needs a win to force a Sunday game.

“It’s not going to be easy,” said Florida senior Amanda Lorenz. “No Super Regional game is ever easy. We have to be as hungry as we were today.”

In front of a boisterous crowd of 2,106 at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium, Florida scored twice in the first inning and turned it over to Barnhill, who lowered her ERA to 0.16 in the last seven games.

“As the game went on my pitches were getting better and better,” said Barnhill (33-11). “Sometimes, the longer you are out there, you kind of get into a groove.”

Barnhill retired the side in order only once, in the fifth thanks to three walks and a pair of hit batsmen. She had seven strikeouts, including the final batter of the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.

“I felt like the rise ball was what I was missing last weekend so I really focused on that in practice,” Barnhill said.

The Gators scored twice in the first, Lorenz leading off with a four-pitch walk and Kendyl Lindaman ripping a run-scoring double to start the scoring and Sophia Reynono knocking her in with a single.

“That first inning was fun,” said Lorenz.

Tennessee starter Ashley Rogers was pulled in the second inning and replaced by Matty Moss. But Barnhill kept throwing up zeros and Florida eventually got some insurance on a double in the gap off the bat of Jaimie Hoover to score pinch-runner Amanda Beane.

“I feel really good at the plate right now,” Hoover said.

The game was a continuation of Florida’s SEC Tournament and Regional play in that the Gators continue to get contributions from throughout the batting order.

“The secret of postseason is being able to hit with runners in scoring position,” Walton said. “We did that some times and not some times.”

While Florida missed out on some scoring opportunities, the Gators had already pocketed enough in the first for Barnhill. The Vols managed only two singles and left eight runners stranded in trying to dig out of the early hole.

“It takes so much pressure off when you get two runs in the first inning,’ Barnhill said. “You’re still in the zone, but you are just having a little more fun.”

Florida made a number of plays behind Barnhill, including a diving catch of a pop-up by third baseman Hannah Sipos.

“That’s why she plays as much as she does,” Walton said, joking about Sipos’ .179 average she carried into the game.

Barnhill hit a pair of batters early, the second one loading the bases for Tennessee in the third. But she got out of the inning by getting a soft pop fly by Haley Beardon.

Tennessee had a runner on base in six of the seven innings.

Lorenz walked three times and tied the SEC record for career walks with Devon Wallace of Arkansas with 235.

Gainesville Super Regional

(Best-of-3; x-if necessary)

Host school is home team for Game 1; visiting school is home team for Game 2; coin flip determines home team for Game 3

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Pat Dooley Answering the call: Gators have turned up intensity since Barnhill’s pledgehttp://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/43130/
http://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/43130/#commentsFri, 24 May 2019 09:45:27 +0000http://www.gatorsports.com/?p=43130It may not be up there with the Tim Tebow pledge, but Kelly Barnhill put herself out there a couple of weeks ago with a promise of her own. And the aftermath has been scary good. It was after the final regular season series of the year against Mississippi State, a series that the Bulldogs […]

]]>It may not be up there with the Tim Tebow pledge, but Kelly Barnhill put herself out there a couple of weeks ago with a promise of her own.

And the aftermath has been scary good.

It was after the final regular season series of the year against Mississippi State, a series that the Bulldogs won and a series where Barnhill had given up nine runs in two losses.

In the player’s lounge after Florida had won the third game with Elizabeth Hightower throwing a shutout, Barnhill spoke to her teammates with passion and commitment.

“She told the team, ‘I’m sorry. I did not pitch very well at all this weekend. I’m going to do my best to keep our opponents from scoring runs,’” said Florida coach Tim Walton. “I think she answered her own call. She called herself out in front of the team and she backed it up.

“She has come full circle in leadership, full circle in accountability. It was a proud moment for me.”

Since that weekend when Florida was muddling along and finished at .500 in the SEC, Barnhill has been one of the most dominating pitchers in the country allowing only one run in six starts.

But all of that is old news tonight when the fifth-seeded Gators face 12th-seeded Tennessee in the Super Regionals at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.

It’s pretty routine stuff for Florida to be facing an SEC team in the Supers, but this had been a different Florida team, one that seemed to stumble every time it got things headed in the right direction.

But that has changed during an eight-game winning streak, and it’s not just Barnhill’s late resurgence.

“We set a standard at Florida and I’m the first one who will tell you I haven’t been happy all the time with the way we’ve played all season,” Walton said.

“I think this team finally found its identity. They’re comfortable. They’re not chasing shadows anymore. We get in this brand-new facility, there’s some shadows in the facility. You walk down the hallway and there are some great players.”

The two teams play tonight at 7 in the first of best-of-three series with the winner going to the Women’s College World Series.

While Florida has the home-field advantage, the Vols already took two out of three games from Florida on the first weekend of SEC play.

“They feel good about where they are at and we feel good about where we are at,” said senior Amanda Lorenz. “There aren’t a lot of moving parts. Everybody is pretty comfortable.”

Tennessee tied for second in the SEC and is playing in its seventh Super Regional in the last eight years.

“I think you draw confidence from the familiarity,” said Tennessee co-head coach Karen Weekly. “But we can’t rest on the fact that we won the series because when we started postseason, the first thing I told the kids is we are 0-0. There is nothing on the stats. Nobody has stats.”

True, but there is the 0.20 ERA that Barnhill has put up in her last six starts.

“I’ve been going out there with more intensity,” she said.

The Vols hit six homers off Barnhill in the first two games of that series back in the beginning of March. But that was then.

“They beat us,” Walton said. “They played better than we did. It matters, they played well but I don’t think it has too much to do with where we are now. I’m not sure about them but I know we are in a different place now.”

Gainesville Super Regional

(Best-of-3; x-if necessary)

Host school is home team for Game 1; visiting school is home team for Game 2; coin flip determines home team for Game 3

Washington Redskins — Signed linebacker Jon Bostic, who was drafted by the Chicago Bears in 2013 out of the University of Floriday, and has spent time with the New England Patriots, Detroit Lions, Indianapolis Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers since then. He spent 16 games in Pittsburgh last year, tallying 73 total tackles and 2.5 sacks.

Bostic will likely come in right away and compete for playing time alongside Shaun Dion Hamilton and Mason Foster, but his veteran presence is sure to bolster the Washington defense.

Tuesday

New York Jets — Signed free-agent wide receiver-kick returner Deonte Thompson, who played last season for Buffalo and Dallas.

The 30-year-old Thompson has 94 catches for 1,193 yards and four touchdowns in seven NFL seasons. He also has averaged 24.8 yards on kickoff returns.

Thompson began last season with the Cowboys and had 14 receptions for 124 yards before being released. He signed with the Bills for a third stint with the team and had three catches for 37 yards in five games.

He was signed by Baltimore as an undrafted free agent out of Florida in 2012. Thompson also has played for Chicago, where current Jets coach Adam Gase was his offensive coordinator in 2015.

MLB

Boston Red Sox — Pitcher Brian Johnson made the second start of his rehab assignment for Double-A Portland, giving up three runs in 1 1/3 innings. Johnson is rehabbing since the Red Sox placed him on the injured list with left elbow inflammation April 6. Johnson appeared in four games for the Red Sox this season before being placed on the injured list. He allowed seven runs in 1.1 innings in an outing the day before landing on the injured list.

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Gatorsports UF’s Rayshad Jackson puts name in NCAA transfer databasehttp://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/ufs-rayshad-jackson-puts-name-in-ncaa-transfer-database/
http://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/ufs-rayshad-jackson-puts-name-in-ncaa-transfer-database/#commentsWed, 22 May 2019 18:39:35 +0000http://www.gatorsports.com/?p=43124Another Florida football player has put his name in the NCAA transfer database. The latest Gator to make the decision to transfer is redshirt senior linebacker Rayshad Jackson, who is going to end his college career at another school as a graduate transfer. Jackson, who is from Miami Norland, started three games last season and […]

]]> Another Florida football player has put his name in the NCAA transfer database.

The latest Gator to make the decision to transfer is redshirt senior linebacker Rayshad Jackson, who is going to end his college career at another school as a graduate transfer.

Jackson, who is from Miami Norland, started three games last season and played in all 13. He’s been one of the Gators’ most productive special teams players over the past three seasons, playing in a combined 33 games.

Jackson finished the spring third on the depth chart at inside linebacker.

Another UF linebacker who has been in the transfer portal since before the start of spring practice finally has landed at another school. Senior outside linebacker Kylan Johnson has transferred to Pittsburgh, the school announced Wednesday.

In his three seasons at UF, Johnson started nine games and played in 33. He recorded 83 career tackles, 5.5 tackles for losses and one sack.

“Kylan is a really smart player with a great nose for the football,” Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi said. “He can play either outside linebacker position and is a great fit for our scheme. Kylan’s experience and athleticism will be immediate assets for our linebacker group.”

Johnson has one year of eligibility remaining.

With Johnson going to Pitt, Jackson and redshirt freshman defensive end/tackle Malik Langham are the only former Gators in the transfer portal who have yet to make a decision on where they will continue their career.

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Robbie Andreu NCAA Super Regional: A Tradition Unlike Any Otherhttp://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/ncaa-super-regional-a-tradition-unlike-any-other/
http://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/ncaa-super-regional-a-tradition-unlike-any-other/#commentsWed, 22 May 2019 14:23:36 +0000http://www.gatorsports.com/?p=43123If it’s May, Florida must be playing a NCAA Super Regional against another SEC softball team. It has happened five consecutive years and each year it has been a different team from the conference. This weekend, it is Tennessee coming to town for the best-of-three starting at 7 p.m Friday. The winner advances to the […]

]]>If it’s May, Florida must be playing a NCAA Super Regional against another SEC softball team. It has happened five consecutive years and each year it has been a different team from the conference.

This weekend, it is Tennessee coming to town for the best-of-three starting at 7 p.m Friday. The winner advances to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.

These Super Regionals against the SEC have seen just about everything from walk-offs to run rules. A quick look at the four consecutive:

2015 — Kentucky

Florida 2-0.

Scores: Florida 7-0; Florida 1-0.

Lauren Haeger’s legend was starting to grow as she homered in the first game and threw a two-hit shutout and won the second game to go to 28-1 on the season.

Aftermath: Florida won its second straight national title, beating three straight SEC teams in Oklahoma City before taking two of three from Michigan in the final.

2016 — Georgia

Georgia 2-0

Scores: Georgia 3-0; Georgia 3-2.

Chelsea Wilkinson shut out the Gators in the first game, but it looked like Florida would force a third game at home up 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh. Then pinch-hitter Kaylee Puailoa hit a two-out, two-run homer to dead center to suddenly end Florida’s season.

Aftermath: Georgia beast FSU in the first game of the WCWS, but lost its next two, both to SEC teams.

2017 — Alabama

Florida 2-1.

Scores: Alabama 3-0, Florida 2-0; Florida 2-1.

Alexis Osorio shut out the Gators on three hits in the opener, but Amanda Lorenz hit a two-run homer and Delanie Gourley threw a shutout to even the series. In the deciding game, Florida scored twice in the first inning and Kelly Barnhill made it hold up with 12 strikeouts.

Aftermath: Florida beat a pair of SEC teams in Oklahoma City and made the final, where the Gators lost in two to Oklahoma, losing the first game in 17 innings.

2018 —- Texas A&M

Florida 2-1.

Scores: Florida 5-4; Texas A&M 5-4; Florida 5-3.

It was a wild weekend last season. Florida trailed 4-2 before scoring three in the seventh on a Lorenz homer and a bases-loaded walk. Tori Vidales hit a three-run homer in the fifth to win the second game. In game three, Vidales hit a two-run homer in the seventh to give A&M the lead, but Jordan Matthews trumped it with a three-run homer with two out in the bottom of the inning.

Aftermath: Florida beat Georgia in its WCWS opener, but lost the next two games to UCLA and Oklahoma.

NCAA Gainesville Super Regional

(Best-of-3; x-if necessary)

Host school is home team for Game 1; visiting school is home team for Game 2; coin flip determines home team for Game 3

At Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium

Florida vs. Tennessee

Friday: Florida (47-15) vs. Tennessee (42-15), 7 p.m., ESPN2

Saturday: Florida vs. Tennessee, 6 p.m., ESPN

x-Sunday: Florida vs. Tennessee, 2 p.m., ESPNU

Fans looking to purchase tickets for the 2019 Gainesville Super Regional should contact the Gator Ticket Office for more information.

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Pat Dooley Report: Jalon Jones transferring to Jackson Statehttp://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/report-jalon-jones-transferring-to-jackson-state/
http://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/report-jalon-jones-transferring-to-jackson-state/#commentsTue, 21 May 2019 19:14:13 +0000http://www.gatorsports.com/?p=43119Jones was a distant fourth on the depth chart at the end of spring

Jones, an early enrollee at UF, entered the NCAA transfer portal earlier this month. In April, two female UF students accused Jones of sexual battery, but the case was closed by the University Police Department because the victims did not want to press charges against him.

Jones was a distant fourth on the depth chart at the end of spring and likely would have redshirted this season if he’d remained at UF.

HOOVER, Ala. — Florida completed its baseball resume Tuesday for the NCAA Tournament committee to go over through Monday morning.

Have the Gators (33-24) done enough to receive an invitation to their 12th consecutive NCAA tourney? We’ll find out Monday. The NCAA Selection Show is scheduled for noon Monday on ESPNU.

“Given the difference in the circumstances, with some time off, I like our club,” said UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan, whose team has reached the College World Series seven times since 2010, winning the 2017 title. “That’s for the committee to decide, I’m not going to put my two cents in there. You’ve got some smart people making these decisions and at the end of the day I like our team. Simple as that.”

Jonathan Ducoff hit a two-out, run-scoring single in the 10th inning Tuesday to lift six seed Texas A&M to an 8-7 win over 11 seed Florida in the first game of the SEC tournament.

The Aggies (37-19-1) advance to the double-elimination portion of the bracket and face No. 3 seed Georgia (42-14) on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.

Texas A&M earned the win by scoring six of its runs with two outs. After one out in the 10th, UF reliever Nolan Crisp (4-4) walked Cam Blake, who was sacrificed to second. Ducoff’s game-winner was a single to left to give him four runs batted in for the day.

“They were just a little bit better than us today, we made a couple mistakes,” O’Sullivan said. “Credit our hitters, they battled against some of the best pitching in our league today. Our young hitters had some really good at-bats. We battled from behind twice, down 3-0 early and battled back into it.

“Tommy (Mace) gave us a great start. A play here, a play there, a pitch here or a pitch there, obviously it’s a different outcome. Credit Texas A&M, they played just a little bit better than us today.”

Texas A&M got to Mace with three runs in the bottom of the third inning. Three singles, an intentional walk, a sacrifice fly and a throwing error allowed the Aggies to take a 3-0 lead.

The Gators cut the deficit to 3-2 with two runs in the fifth after two outs. Kendrick Calilao walked to end a streak of 12 consecutive Gators retired by Texas A&M starter Asa Lacy, but was erased when Cory Acton reached on a field’s choice. Jacob Young then singled and Jud Fabian walked to load the bases. Brady McConnell delivered with a two-run single.

UF missed an opportunity to at least tie the game when Fabian was caught in a rundown between home and third base and thrown out trying to advance on Austin Langworthy’s infield single.

Florida tied it up at 3-all in the sixth. Brady Smith reached on a throwing error before Calilao, Acton and Young walked to force across a run. Lacy was replaced by Bryce Miller.

Mace was lifted after giving up a two-out double in the sixth. Reliever Christian Scott got the Gators out of the inning. Mace allowed four hits and two earned runs in 62/3 innings and struck out six and walked four on four days rest.

The Gators scored two in the eighth inning for a 5-3 lead. Smith reached on an error and scored when Wil Dalton tripled. Calilao’s sacrifice fly scored Dalton.

Texas A&M went longball to take the lead in its half of the eighth. Mickey Hoehner homered off Scott with two out to make it 5-4. After a single, Jordan Butler replaced Scott. After another single, Ducoff hit a two-out, three-run home run on the 10th pitch of his at-bat for the 7-5 Aggies lead.

Florida tied the game at 7-7 in the ninth off Aggies closer Kasey Kalich (2-1). Fabian doubled and scored when Langworthy’s deep fly to right field was misplayed into a triple. Nelson Maldonado singled in Langworthy to deadlock the game.

The Aggies threatened in the ninth, but Acton tagged out a runner attempting to advance to third base on a grounder to third.

“I’m proud of the way we battled,” O’Sullivan said. “Obviously a lot of people probably didn’t expect us to be in this position 10 days ago. But I’ve seen steady progress and improvement of our team, but today kind of shows you a little of what we’ve gone through the entire year. We battle, and battle, and battle and had a great start from our starter. We just weren’t able to finish it off.”

]]> Not that there was any threat that the football rivalry between Florida and Florida State would be ending anytime soon, but the two schools did announce Tuesday that they have reached a four-year contract extension to continue playing each other through the 2022 season.

The first year of the new agreement begins this season with the game being played in The Swamp on Nov. 30.

The Gators and Seminoles have played each other every year since the series began in 1958. It’s been the traditional regular-season ending game for both schools since 1980.

UF leads the series 35-26-2. The Gators snapped a five-game losing streak in the rivalry last November with a 41-14 thrashing of the Seminoles in Tallahassee. UF has not beaten FSU in Gainesville since 2009.

]]> Florida unveiled a non-conference basketball schedule Tuesday that is both intriguing and challenging.

Mike White’s Gators will be playing games at traditional basketball schools UConn and Butler, and one in New York City against a Big East opponent in a Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame sponsored game.

The Gators also will be traveling for two tournaments — the Charleston Classic (Buffalo, UConn, Miami, Missouri State, Saint Joseph’s, Towson and Xavier) in November and the Orange Bowl Classic (opponent to be named later) in December.

The home non-conference schedule features games against North Florida, FSU, Towson, Marshall, Long Beach State and a Big 12 team in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.

UF opens the season against North Florida on Nov. 5 and plays host to Florida State five days later, the day after the Gators play Vanderbilt in football in The Swamp. On Nov. 29, the day before the UF-FSU football game at Florida Field, the Gators play Marshall at Exactech Arena.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – For only the second time in program history, the Florida Gators have an NCAA medalist. Junior Sierra Brooks took home the second place trophy for the 2019 NCAA Championships in a field of 132 players.

With her overall tournament score of a four-under 215 at Blessings Golf Club, Brooks is just the second Gator and first since Gator Great Deb Richard to take home the accolades in 1985, on the heels of a team National Championship. Brooks had a less-than-ideal first round on Friday, turning in a two-over 75 and sitting in 13th. She rebounded nicely in a weather-suspended second round that spanned two days, carding a score of six-under 67 and seven birdies.

“I’m incredibly proud of Sierra,” UF coach Emily Bastel Glaser said. “She is the type of kid who is easy to root for because she works so hard and deserves all the accolades she gets. She leaves no stone unturned when it comes to being the best athlete she can be.

“She has accomplished so many great things this year but to watch her personal growth has been especially rewarding. This is an awesome way to end her season and prepare her for the U.S. Women’s Open next week.”

Brooks entered the final round Monday in sole possession of first place by one stroke, ahead of Arkansas’ Maria Fassi. Brooks had a morning tee time of 9:50 ET and Fassi, on her home course, didn’t tee off until 1:39. With Brooks finishing play and carding an even par for the round before Fassi even hit the turn, she became a sitting duck. Fassi finished her round with a tournament score of eight-under 211 and went five under in the final round. Fassi will begin her professional career on the LPGA next week at the US Women’s Open, where Brooks will be competing as an amateur.

Play ended up being suspended at 8:30 p.m. due to darkness and the remaining groups will finish in the morning. Based on unofficial scores, Florida finished in 10th place and missed the cut for match play by four strokes. The Gators will return the entire lineup, top to bottom, next season and hope to build off this momentum from a great run at the NCAA Championships.

“We had a great season and a great run here in Arkansas,” Glaser said. “Everyone is disappointed because we know we had enough talent here this week to go deeper in the tournament. We just didn’t have enough consistency in our roster top to bottom this week and the first round really hurt us. It’s hard to recover from a round like that at the National Championship, especially after losing a day to weather.

“By no means do I want to take away from the year this group had. They played some great golf and had a tremendous amount of growth both on and off the golf course. Everyone from this team will return next year and I know they will be able to use the experiences of this week as fuel for next season.”

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Gatorsports The Back Nine: UF baseball team has NCAA resume, but …http://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/the-back-nine-uf-baseball-team-has-ncaa-resume-but/
http://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/the-back-nine-uf-baseball-team-has-ncaa-resume-but/#commentsTue, 21 May 2019 10:00:26 +0000http://www.gatorsports.com/?p=43104The Back Nine comes at you after a softball weekend in the brilliant sunshine of Gainesville and maybe the least amount of time I’ve ever spent watching a major. 10. Let’s start with what happened in Columbia, Mo., over the weekend as a Florida baseball team left for dead on the side of the road […]

]]>The Back Nine comes at you after a softball weekend in the brilliant sunshine of Gainesville and maybe the least amount of time I’ve ever spent watching a major.

10. Let’s start with what happened in Columbia, Mo., over the weekend as a Florida baseball team left for dead on the side of the road crawled out of a deep ditch, dusted itself off and may have put themselves into the postseason. Florida’s sweep of Missouri was something of a stunner, especially the way the Gators pitched … compared to how they had been pitching. Here’s the UF line from the mound for the three-game series:

16 hits, 5 earned runs, 26 strikeouts.

“It all started with Tommy Mace getting a good start and getting the momentum going the right way,” Kevin O’Sullivan told The Back Nine. “Frustration was at an all-time high the week before (going 1-2 at home against Tennessee), but they responded.” We even saw a rare display of emotion from Sully after the last out Saturday. “It’s been a long season,” he said. “But if we get in, we’re going to be tough to beat. I’ve seen some real growth from a young team.” So, will the Gators get in? Well, the magic number was to get to 13 SEC wins — which Florida did — although it’s not a guarantee. Florida should be in based on the metrics with a No. 25 RPI and a No. 3 strength of schedule. O’Sullivan points out that when you add up Florida’s record against the SEC and ACC combined the Gators are 18-18. Florida also has 16 Quad 1 wins, which is tied for 10th in the country. “The No. 1 job of the committee is to put the best teams in there,” O’Sullivan said. “We are certainly one of the top 64.”

11. So the Gators are kind of in the same position as men’s basketball this year. They should be in because of the difficult schedule, but it wouldn’t hurt to win a game in Hoover at the SEC Tournament. The trouble is that the Gators will be facing one of the best pitchers in the league Tuesday in a one-and-done scenario. Asa Lacy was suspended last weekend for arguing balls and strikes in his previous start, but he’s back and rested with his 2.13 ERA and 115 strikeouts in 76 innings. Win and there is no question. Lose and it gets a little fuzzy. But one would think that the committee will send the message that scheduling matters. We will see. Florida on Friday beat one of the best pitchers in the country in TJ Sikkema. It would really be interesting if Florida is sent to Miami as a three seed. There would not be a more dangerous three seed in the tournament.

12. Tim Walton was quick to credit Florida’s fans after all three regional games this weekend and they were loud from the time the Gators walked to their dugouts to the end of each game. He knows that every edge is going to matter as the Gators take on Tennessee in the Super Regional. It seems like a year ago that the two teams played, but it was in early March to start the SEC season. The Vols blasted seven homers in the first two games, three off Kelly Barnhill, to win 9-1 (run rule) and 3-0. Florida rallied behind Barnhill’s two-hitter and two Amanda Lorenz homers to run-rule Tennessee 8-0 in the third game. “We’re a different team than when we played Tennessee at the beginning of the season,” Lorenz said. “And I‘m sure they would say the same thing, too, that they are a different team.”

13. Brooks Koepka pulled a Tiger Woods this weekend. Not just by being really good and looking like he lives in the workout room, but by making a major boring. I literally watched about 30 minutes Sunday and by the time I shifted in my seat a one-shot lead went to three and I went back to a movie. It’s not his fault, but that’s what sports is. There are no guarantees that we are going to be entertained. What he has done over the last eight majors is another reason for Tiger comparisons or even Jack Nicklaus. But we have seen golfers have incredible runs and then fizzle out. He may be boring, but there might not be anybody more mentally strong right now.

14. I have a new rule — any time I see or hear a coach talking negatively about the transfer portal or a player’s right to transfer, I will stop reading and delete the story. Every million-dollar coach should say this, “It’s the rules the way they are set up and the society we live in and we brought this upon ourselves with our stupid restrictions on where a kid can go and not go, so now it’s time for us to adjust.” Nobody whines more in this world than the people who have the most and don’t want to lose any of it. Just shut your yappers.

15. About five years ago my daughter decided she was a Golden State fan and because I didn’t have an NBA team I told her I would be one, too. And we bought T-shirts and cheered for Steph and the boys and our timing couldn’t have been better. Now, she says she doesn’t care anymore, but I am fully invested. Oh well, it’s still great to be riding that bandwagon.

16. We are closing in on the 25th Bob Dooley Invitational (June 8) with a full field and tons of incredible sponsors and prizes, but we need a couple of volunteers to man the Tim Tebow hole. No, he won’t be there, but there is a cardboard cut out and plenty of food and beverages. I would think some service clubs or students looking for service hours would be interested and you know how to reach me.

17. The Tweet of the Week goes to veteran sportswriter Ray Ratto, one of the real legends — “Poll: Who are the Warriors better without?

1. Durant

2. Curry

3. Green

4. Thompson

5. Iguodala

6. Speights

7. Barbosa

8. Floyd

9. Chamberlain

10. Naismith

11. When does this idiocy cease?

12. No seriously, when?”

I don’t know, Ray. I just know I love watching this team play basketball.

18. So the knee held up for three days in a softball press box, which was encouraging. I made sure to get there early to avoid crowds and have time to come up with this playlist.

• And because I might actually go to the movie theatre to see this movie, which looks like it has the potential to be really something, for an old one “Yesterday” by The Beatles. Or Jack Malik. Check out the trailer and you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Contact Pat Dooley at 352-374-5053 or at pat.dooley@gvillesun.com. And follow at Twitter.com/Pat_Dooley.

]]>The Texas A&M athletic program didn’t have a lot of SEC titles to celebrate during the 2018-19 academic year.

But today, the Aggies can celebrate a big one.

A&M, which only won a single SEC title in women’s swimming and diving, used consistency and a down year for Florida to end the Gators run of 12 consecutive Gatehouse Media Group All-Sports Awards.

The margin of victory was the slimmest since equestrian was added six years ago and the formula was changed. A&M’s total of .66176 (to UF’s .65385) was also the lowest winning total during that stretch.

Florida won four SEC titles in the academic year in men’s indoor track, men’s tennis, men’s swimming and gymnastics, but didn’t get the usual boosts from baseball and softball and had poor showings in men’s golf and women’s basketball.

A&M, which joined the SEC in 2012, finished first in the men’s standings and third in the women’s standings. Florida finished second in both the men’s and women’s. Tennessee was the women’s champion.

GateHouse Media Group, which owns the Gainesville Sun as well as many other newspapers in the SEC footprint, will award the trophy for the fifth consecutive year.

The Halifax Media Group awarded the 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14 trophies. The New York Times Regional Newspaper Group gave the awards from the 1994-95 through 2010-11 seasons.

Prior to that, the league tabulated the SEC All-Sports totals before deciding to do away with what was then called the Bernie Moore Trophy, partly because of Florida’s dominance.

The award started in 1973-74 and was spread among five schools before Florida started rolling. LSU won six titles including four in a row, Alabama won five and Tennessee four.

But Florida won three in a row by wide margins and the Bernie Moore Trophy was discontinued by the league.

Points are awarded based on the number of competing teams in a sport. A program’s points total is divided by the total number of teams competing in the sports the school fields and that quotient ranks the teams in the final GateHouse Media standings. The sports of cross country, indoor and outdoor track & field are combined.

The last school to win the award other than Florida was Georgia in 2005-06.

]]>Special to Gatorsports.comHOOVER, Ala.—Senior Nelson Maldonado and freshman Kendrick Calilao were recognized by the leagues’ coaches with postseason Southeastern Conference Honors, announced on Monday by the SEC office.

Maldonado, one of two captains on the 2019 squad, was named the First Team All-SEC Designated Hitter. It is the first time winning All-SEC honors in his four years at Florida. The Tampa native had the best season of his career, hitting .335 with 10 home runs and 40 RBI. He had 20 multi-hit games and tied for the team lead with 11 multi-RBI games on the year.

Entering the 2019 SEC Tournament, Maldonado has played in 254 career games, third-most in school history, with 242 career starts, fourth in UF history. In addition, he is a three-time SEC Academic Honor Roll selection.

Calilao earned Freshman All-SEC honors in his first year on campus. He broke onto the scene early in the season, hitting .333 with three home runs and 32 RBI in the first two months of the season. He had 18 multi-hit games and 10 games with multiple RBI.

The Kissimmee native had two games with six RBI. He had a grand slam and six RBI against Winthrop on March 3 and went 4-for-6 with another grand slam and six RBI in his first game against Florida State on March 12.

Through the regular season, Calilao is hitting .278 with four home runs and 43 RBI, second most on the team.

Florida opens play in the 2019 SEC Tournament on Tuesday against No. 6 seed Texas A&M at 10:30 a.m. ET on SEC Network.

HOOVER, Ala. — Florida’s Jack Leftwich was named SEC Co-Pitcher of the Week after his complete-game shutout at Missouri last Friday, the league announced Monday.

Leftwich, who had been dealing with a blister issue for much of the season, turned in the best performance of his career in a must-win game for the Gators, pitching a complete-game shutout at No. 24 Missouri in Florida’s 2-0 win. It was the first complete-game, two-hitter by a Florida pitcher since Logan Shore vs. Georgia on April 22, 2016

The Orlando native limited the Tigers to just two hits, for a .071 average against and matched his career high with nine strikeouts.

Player of the Week: Stephen Scott, Vanderbilt – Scott lifted the Commodores to their first SEC title since 2013 with three homers and seven hits at Kentucky.

Co-Pitcher of the Week: Garrett Stallings, Tennessee – Stallings tossed his second-complete game shutout of the season and the fourth complete game of his career to improve to 8-3 on the season.

Co-Freshman of the Week: Joseph Menefee, Texas A&M – Menefee retired 12 of 13 batters he faced vs. Arkansas, including seven strikeouts in two relief appearances, both in victories against the No. 4 Razorbacks.

Co-Freshman of the Week: Landon Marceaux, LSU – Marceaux delivered a brilliant outing on Friday to clinch LSU’s series win over Auburn. Marceaux pitched a career-high seven innings, limiting Auburn to one run on only two hits with no walks and a career-best seven strikeouts.

]]>http://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/floridas-leftwich-earns-sec-weekly-honor/feed/0
Gatorsports http://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/ufs-brooks-in-contention-for-ncaa-golf-title/
http://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/ufs-brooks-in-contention-for-ncaa-golf-title/#commentsMon, 20 May 2019 00:19:42 +0000http://www.gatorsports.com/?p=43097Brooks in sole possession of first place heading into Monday's final round of stroke play.

]]>FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Florida junior Sierra Brooks did not lose any moment in the down time Sunday after a weather suspension Saturday.

Besides one bogey late in the day Saturday, Brooks put together an impressive second round over two days. She had four birdies over the first 11 holes Saturday and three birdies over her seven holes Sunday. Brooks’ second-round score of 67 (-6) puts her in sole possession of first place heading into Monday’s final round of stroke play.

The Gators sit 13th at 615 (+31), if they make a run Monday and finish inside the top eight teams they will advance to match play Tuesday. Duke leads at 586 (+2).

“Today was a huge day for us,” UF coach Emily Bastel Glaser said. “It was all going to boil down to how we handled yesterday’s adversity with being called off the course for weather. Do we come out today and create come momentum or do we go the wrong way? I’m so proud of how we responded this morning. We came out and were assertive from the start.”

The story of the day was the pairing of Brooks and Maria Fassi of Arkansas, another top player on the leaderboard and No. 3 amateur in the world. Brooks and Fassi entered their final hole of the second round both at three-under and in a tie for first place. They had near identical drives on the 264-yard, par 4 hole. Their shots on the green landed almost right next to each other. The only difference? Maybe an inch. Brooks’ putt went straight in the hole and Fassi’s rolled around the rim and sat on the edge.

“Sierra was outstanding today,” Glaser said. “She had some momentum yesterday and it was tough to have play suspended and potentially lose that momentum but we picked up right where she left off yesterday and had a super strong finish. Tomorrow will be a fun day for her not only in contention for the individual title but also playing hard to give her team a chance to make match play.”

The final round of Championship play begins first thing Monday morning at 8 a.m. (ET). The Gators tee times will begin at 9:06.

]]>http://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/ufs-brooks-in-contention-for-ncaa-golf-title/feed/1
Gatorsports 4-star ATH commits to Gators 2020 classhttp://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/4-star-ath-commits-to-gators-2020-class/
http://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/4-star-ath-commits-to-gators-2020-class/#commentsSun, 19 May 2019 23:01:54 +0000http://www.gatorsports.com/?p=43096After picking up two commitments in as many days, Florida’s recruiting class has moved back up to No. 5 in the 247Sports class rankings.

Joel Williams, a 6-foot-1, 194-pound athlete/defensive back out of Madison Prep Academy in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, verbally committed to the Gators and coach Dan Mullen following an unofficial visit to Florida.

The No. 13-ranked athlete in the 2020 class by the 247Sports composite ranking, Williams announced a final three of LSU, Tennessee and Florida, with many speculating the four-star prospect would either commit to Tennessee or stay in-state and play for the Tigers. But a strong recruiting push throughout the spring by the Gators led Williams to shut his recruitment down Sunday and become the 12th member of Florida’s 2020 class.

After picking up two commitments in as many days, Florida’s recruiting class has moved back up to No. 5 in the 247Sports class rankings.

]]>Florida followed a familiar formula to advance to another NCAA Super Regional on Sunday.

1. Get a lead.

2. Let Kelly Barnhill take over.

The senior pitcher may not have been overly impressed with her weekend, but she threw six shutout innings to lead the No. 5-seeded Gators past Boise State 5-0.

“I don’t think I threw my best this weekend,” Barnhill said after running her record to 32-11 on the season. “Personally, I think I can do a lot better.”

But here is what she did as Florida swept through the Gainesville Regional — 15 innings, six hits, zero runs allowed.

In six starts since the end of the regular season, Barnhill’s ERA is 0.20 and Florida (47-15) is riding an eight-game winning streak heading into the Supers.

“I could make a lot of money if I knew what it would take to make Kelly the absolute best,” said Florida coach Tim Walton. “Last weekend she threw almost every pitch and she looked about as good as she has looked in her career. And I didn’t throw her as much this week and she wasn’t as good as she was last week.

“I don’t know if there is a secret formula for Kelly Barnhill. She is a unique individual. She gets better as she throws more.”

Florida advances to play next weekend against No. 14 seed Tennessee (42-15), winner of the Knoxville Regional. The Gators will be playing their fifth straight Super Regional against another SEC team.

It will be the seventh straight Super for the Gators and 12th under Walton. Florida will try to advance to the Women’s College World Series for the 10th time.

The NCAA announced Monday that the Super Regional will be 7 p.m. Friday (ESPN2), 6 p.m. Saturday (ESPN) and 2 p.m., if necessary, Sunday (ESPNU).

On Sunday, Florida scored twice in the first inning and never looked back. Amanda Lorenz, who had three hits, led off with a single and eventually scored on a wild pitch. Another run scored on a Sophia Reynoso ground out.

That was all Barnhill would need.

“You get a lead, it even changes the way the other team starts their at-bats,” Barnhill said. “They try to get too big sometimes and overswinging. It makes pitching to them easier.”

A sacrifice fly by Jordan Roberts in the third made it 3-0 and a solo homer from Jaimie Hoover off the pitcher’s shelter in left made it 4-0 in the fourth. It was Hoover’s seventh of the year.

“She does that all the time in practice,” Barnhill said. “We are in the pitching thing and it’s like a bomb shelter. Boom, boom, boom.”

The Gators got a hustle run in the fifth when Cheyenne Lindsey beat out a two-out infield hit and Reynoso scored all the way from second.

“We’re playing with this fearlessness once this postseason started,” Lorenz said. “We have nothing to lose.”

Barnhill kept the Broncos (36-16) grasping for answers, leaving after six innings and allowing only two singles.

“She was really spinning it,” said Boise’s Cora Wade.

A crowd of 1,302 saw Barnhill strike out six batters and walk only one as she recorded her ninth career win in NCAA play. Barnhill’s ERA in NCAA tournament games is now 1.07 with 137 strikeouts.

“The best thing for me is we’re scoring runs, she doesn’t have to be perfect and she’s locating the ball better,” Walton said.

Florida went to Katie Chronister for two outs and Elizabeth Hightower for the final before celebrating another trip to the second weekend of the tournament.

]]>http://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/super-show-gators-dont-allow-a-run-in-three-ncaa-wins-to-advance-to-super-regional/feed/6
Pat Dooley Photos: Gators get no-hitter in Game 2 winhttps://www.gainesville.com/photogallery/LK/20190518/PHOTOGALLERY/518009979/PH/1#new_tab
https://www.gainesville.com/photogallery/LK/20190518/PHOTOGALLERY/518009979/PH/1#new_tab#respondSat, 18 May 2019 23:30:59 +0000http://www.gatorsports.com/?p=43085The post Photos: Gators get no-hitter in Game 2 win appeared first on GatorSports.com.
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]]>Tim Walton was hoping for some home cooking in the NCAA Gainesville Regional this weekend.

But he also knew his players needed to provide some of the juice.

The Gators did just that with a run-rule win over Boise State 8-0 Saturday in a game that featured a combined no-hitter for two UF pitchers.

“I’m just happy we’ve played a lot better and been more fun to watch, given our fans energy to cheer us on,” Walton said. “I’ve talked to our team about it that our home-field advantage hasn’t been that this year because we haven’t been very fun to watch. I think we’ve been better the last couple of days.”

The Gators (46-15) will be back at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium on Sunday with a chance to clinch the regional and advance to a home series in the Super Regionals.

Florida will again play Boise State (36-15), which survived Saturday night loser’s bracket, at noon Sunday.

A day after a slow start at the plate, the Gators put this one away early, knocking Boise State starting pitcher Gianna Mancha (12-8) out after eight batters.

Mancha walked five of the first six batters she faced and trailed 1-0 before Jade Caraway looped single to left to score a pair of runners. Caraway, a transfer from N.C. State, was in a walking boot Thursday as a precaution after spraining an ankle against Alabama at the SEC Tournament.

On Saturday, she had two hits and knocked in three runs.

“It feels good,” Caraway said. “I just wanted to come through for my team, stay within myself. I’m a pretty free swinger. I don’t take a lot of pitches.”

Light-hitting third baseman Hannah Sipos followed with a single to score another run and Alex Voss greeted new pitcher Veronica Lynch with an infield hit to make it 5-0.

Amanda Lorenz capped the scoring in the inning with an RBI single. It was the fourth consecutive hit for the Gators.

In all, the bottom four players in the batting order knocked in six runs in the game.

“The biggest hit to me was Hannah Sipos finding a way to get a hit,” Walton said. “That was the biggest moment to me.”

UF added two runs in the second as red-hot Hannah Adams led off with a double off the glove of the third baseman and scored on a two-out single by Jaimie Hoover. Hoover made it all the way to third on a throwing error and scored on Caraway’s infield hit.

“Our whole team has talked about what happened in the regular season doesn’t matter and focus on every at-bat,” said Adams, who has 10 hits in her last seven games. “That’s what I’ve tried to do.”

Once UF starter Kelly Barnhill breezed through her second scoreless inning, Walton felt comfortable giving her a rest. Sophomore Natalie Lugo came in and retired all nine batters she faced.

“Six (runs) was probably about exactly where I thought, ‘OK, we have an opportunity to get someone else in the game and get her out of the competitive circle, get her off her feet,” Walton said. “She’s been out there for quite a few games in a row.

“The player of the game to me was Natalie, coming in to — h-hum — throw three perfect innings.”

Lugo got the win to go to 8-3. It was her first-ever NCAA appearance.

“I tried not to focus on the fact that it was the postseason,” she said. “I tried not to tell myself there’s a no-hitter the same way you say it out loud to jinx it.”

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Better late than never. That’s the approach the Florida baseball team seems to be taking in order to earn a bid to the NCAA tournament.

Florida completed a weekend sweep of No. 24 Missouri with a 4-3 win Saturday. The Gators (33-23 overall) have now swept the Tigers four years in a row, winning 12 straight games to finish league play with a 13-17 conference record heading into the SEC Tournament next week in Hoover, Ala., where the Gators will most likely need to win several games to improve their NCAA resume.

“I haven’t really looked at it that closely,” UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said of the Gators’ postseason bid. “I’ve been trying to help these young players get better. Every coach is going to feel like their team should get in.

“I feel like the history that we have and the success we’ve had in the postseason, the youth that we have continues to show improvement, we’re trending upward. We play a difficult schedule every year and I think you should be rewarded for that. It’s a very difficult league, and we’ve played some traditionally tough places: Missouri, LSU, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt. We’ve had to grow up this year, and I think we have.”

The Gators are the No. 11 seed at the SEC and will play No. 6 seed Texas A&M on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. ET on SEC Network.

After Missouri (34-21-1, 13-16-1) put together a rally in the seventh inning to tie the game at 3-3, Florida rebounded in the top of the eighth inning to regain the lead when Brady Smith drove in Austin Langworthy with a double into the left field corner for a 4-3 lead.

Christian Scott (6-3) kept the Tigers off the board for the final two innings to earn the win for the Gators.

The Gators opened the scoring in the second inning to take a 2-0 lead. Kendrick Calilao singled and Cory Acton followed with a double off the wall in right center. The center fielder misplayed the ball, which allowed both runners to advance and Calilao crossed home. A grounder from Jacob Young allowed Acton to score for a two-run lead.

In the third inning, Brady McConnell led off the frame with a walk and sprinted to third on a single from Langworthy. McConnell scored on a ground ball from Nelson Maldonado to make it 3-0.

The Tigers strung together four singles in the seventh to tie the game 3-3 on Chris Cornelius’ RBI single.

Freshman Nick Pogue continued to excel on the mound for the Gators, matching his career high with 5.1 innings pitched and no runs allowed. He had a career high six strikeouts and one walk. In three starts, he is 1-0 with a 0.57 earned run average (1 ER in 15.2 IP). Pogue has allowed just six hits with three walks and 12 strikeouts.

“We finally put it all together,” O’Sullivan said. “We’ve been swinging the bats really well all year long for the most part … I just wish we’d pitched like this the entire year, we probably wouldn’t be in the position that we’re in.

“They really battled. Nick Pogue, to go on the road and do what he did today, that’s three quality starts in a row for him. Jordan Butler looks like he’s trying to catch form and Christian Scott, what can you say, he was unbelievable. That’s the best fastball he’s had in quite some time. He was throwing sliders for strikes on both sides of the plate to both righties and lefties. It was a gutsy performance.”

Odom will have quite a name to live up to when he puts pen to paper and arrives at UF. Jason Odom was a four-year starter at UF from 1992-95 under Steve Spurrier, and, among numerous other accolades, was ranked No. 28 in The Gainesville Sun’s list of top 100 Gators from the first 100 years of Florida football.

Odom, ranked by 247Sports as the No. 32 tight end in the 2020 class, is the 11th prospect to commit to UF’s 2020 class, which is currently ranked No. 8 in the nation.

Florida (25-4) was trailing Texas (28-3) 1-0 after losing the doubles point and was down 3-0 after singles losses by Sam Riffice at No. 2 singles and McClain Kessler at No. 6.

The Gators chipped away at the deficit with straight set wins by Oliver Crawford at No. 1 and Andy Andrade at No. 5.

But Johannes Ingildsen lost his match at No. 3, as the Longhorns advance to the national championship match at 3 p.m. Sunday against No. 4 seed Wake Forest, the 4-3 winner of the day’s other semifinal against No. 9 North Carolina.

Making its first trip to the NCAA semifinals since 2005 and for the third time in program history, Florida’s quest to reach the championship match for the first time came to an end.

“Texas did a nice job today in the critical stages of matches,” said UF coach Bryan Shelton, who concluded his seventh and most successful season. “We always say those first 20 minutes of singles, you really want to set the tone and I thought Texas did a great job of that, coming out aggressively. I think our guys were up for the fight.

“I thought if we could get them deep, we had a good chance in the heat, extend the matches a little bit longer and continue to play, that we would have our chances. They did a good job at stepping up at the right time and executing.”

]]>After an eventful spring, Florida football coach Dan Mullen is looking to rebuild much of UF’s momentum on the recruiting trail.

The Gators will host their second annual Gator Grill Out, a recruiting event featuring several prospects rated highly by Mullen and the coaching staff, inside UF’s practice facility to kick off the summer recruiting session.

Florida is hosting six official visitors throughout the weekend, led by four-star offensive lineman Joshua Braun. Ranked the No. 26 offensive lineman in the 2020 class by 247Sports, Braun is no stranger to Gainesville, although the Gators aren’t alone when it comes to pushing for his services. The Live Oak native has Auburn, Georgia and South Carolina in hot pursuit, too, with official visits already set up with the Bulldogs and Gamecocks within the next month.

Highly ranked defensive back Jahari Rogers out of Arlington, Texas, will take an official visit to UF over the weekend after seeing his recruitment escalate over the spring. The No. 11-ranked cornerback in the 247Sports composite rankings, Rogers’ arrival in Gainesville comes on the heels of the 6-foot-0 prospect picking up offers from Alabama, Tennessee and Penn State.

Just touched down in Gainesville !!!!— Jahari Rogers (@jay4_era) May 17, 2019

Fadil Diggs recently committed to Texas A&M, but the defensive end still intends to take an official visit to UF over the weekend. The four-star prospect out of Camden, New Jersey, is ranked one of the top-10 defensive end prospects in the 2020 class by several recruiting services, and Florida defensive coordinator Todd Grantham may have his work cut out for him if he hopes to flip Diggs to UF from TAMU.

Baton Rouge native Major Burns has shown UF plenty of interest throughout his recruitment, and he’ll look to get a better picture of Gainesville when Burns arrives at Florida for his official visit. The four-star safety has the hometown Tigers clamoring for his services as well, meaning UF will have its work cut out if they hope to pull Burns out of Louisiana.

And Burns isn’t the only defensive end expected to spend the weekend on an official visit in Gainesville. Fellow four-star Braiden McGregor will make the trip to Florida from Port Huron, Michigan, and the Gators are just one of several teams to finish top-10 last season that are in the mix to sign McGregor. McGregor took an official visit April 5 to Notre Dame, and Clemson has recently upped its pursuit of McGregor, too.

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Florida needed a clutch pitching performance Friday against No. 24 Missouri, which was looking to even the SEC baseball series after losing the opener Thursday to the Gators.

Sophomore Jack Leftwich accomplished the mission for the Gators. Leftwich pitched a complete-game shutout, as Florida (32-23, 12-17 SEC) clinched the series with a 2-0 win over the Tigers.

Leftwich (5-5) was phenomenal, limiting Missouri (34-20-1, 13-15-1) to just two hits while striking out nine. It was the longest outing of his career and first shutout. He retired the first 14 batters he faced.

“It’s been an unfortunate year for him,” UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “He’s dealt with that blister that lasted a lot longer than we expected; then he rolled his ankle in a bullpen session. It’s just been one of those weird years where he hasn’t had the opportunity to be healthy.

“He was really, really good tonight. That’s about as good a performance as I can remember. On the road with a lot at stake. He threw a ton of first-pitch strikes, threw close to 70-percent strikes overall. That’s the best his change-up has looked. I could tell early on in the game when he threw some right-on-right change-ups … that was an unbelievable performance. I can’t say enough about his effort.”

The lone runs in the game came in the fourth inning. Brady McConnell reached base following an error by the third baseman and Austin Langworthy followed with a line drive home run to right field to make it 2-0.

Missouri’s TJ Sikkema (7-4) was almost as good as Leftwich, tossing nine innings with two runs allowed on three hits.

“Overall it was a great game for us,” O’Sullivan said. “It was a well-played game on both sides. When you’re going to beat the other team’s No. 1, especially in this league, you need to have performances like that. Hopefully we’ll come out tomorrow and play just as well and hopefully finish this thing off.”

Florida looks for the sweep at 12 p.m. ET Saturday. Due to impending poor weather on Saturday afternoon, the Gators and Tigers will start the series finale three hours earlier than originally scheduled.

]]>There may have been some frayed nerves in the stands at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium on a steamy Friday as inning after inning went by without Florida generating a hit.

But not in the Florida dugout.

“Eventually,” said catcher Kendyl Lindaman, “we caught on.”

Baffled by Boston pitcher Ali DuBois’s collection of off-speed pitches for four hitless innings, Florida finally responded in the fifth with three runs and all four of the Gators’ hits to win its first game of the NCAA Gainesville Regional 3-0 over Boston University.

Lindaman broke a scoreless tie with a double to drive home Cheyenne Lindsey, who started the rally with the first hit of the game, and Hannah Adams followed with a two-run single as 1,436 watched.

“I knew she was going to throw me that change again and I was just ready for it,” Lindaman said.

Florida (45-15) will face Boise State (35-14) in the first game Saturday at 2 p.m. The winner advances to Sunday and the loser has to return and play the winner of the late afternoon loser’s bracket game Saturday night.

“We were really smart throwing Kelly Barnhill (in the opener),” said Florida coach Tim Walton. “We just felt their pitching staff was pretty good, they played good teams close.”

Barnhill responded with a four-hit shutout, striking out five. She has allowed only one run in her four postseason starts this season.

“I personally don’t think I had my best game, but it doesn’t matter because we got the win,” said Barnhill (31-11).

Barnhill got out of her only real mess in the sixth when she gave up two hits to start the inning. That inning ended when shortstop Sophia Reynoso flipped head-over-heels into the camera well to come up with a foul pop up.

The Gators went into the fifth without a hit or even a hard-hit ball, as DuBois kept UF off balance.

“I knew I’d need a change-up against a powerhouse like Florida so in warm-ups I tried to dial it in,” DuBois said.

She escaped a jam in the second after a walk and hit batsmen. But in the fifth, Lindsey did the same thing she did in Florida’s SEC Tournament win over Alabama on Saturday — get something started.

Her bouncing single not only broke up the no-no, but started a chain reaction when Walton chose to bunt her over to second.

“That’s an unconventional bunt for me,” Walton said. “It was kind of a chess match at that point. I wanted to see what they would do with Amanda (Lorenz) and Kendyl.”

DuBois had struck Lorenz out for only the 16th time this season (in 60 games) in the third inning, but this time walked her on four pitches. Lindaman delivered what turned out to be the winning hit and Adams came through with the insurance with a rip to right.

“We knew (we were being no-hit) because it was being passed around the dugout,” Adams said. “But we weren’t pressured by it.”

Next up for the Gators is Boise State, which rolled over Stanford 9-1 in the first game of the day with five runs in the fourth inning and four more in the seventh.

The Broncos belted out 10 hits in the game, as Karlee Johnson had three RBIs. Stanford (32-19) only allowed three earned runs in the game but committed two costly errors.

]]>http://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/for-openers-florida-handles-boston-university-3-0/feed/0
Pat Dooley Tebow struggling in Triple-A; still a work in progresshttp://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/tebow-struggling-in-triple-a-still-a-work-in-progress/
http://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/tebow-struggling-in-triple-a-still-a-work-in-progress/#respondFri, 17 May 2019 19:22:24 +0000http://www.gatorsports.com/?p=43060The step up to Triple-A has been imposing.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Six weeks into his latest baseball adventure, Tim Tebow is still struggling to find his stroke with the Syracuse Mets at the top rung of minor league ball.

He remains unflappable in spite of the numbers.

“I
think I’m improving. I’m working, developing,” Tebow said Thursday
before the Mets played a night game. “I think I’m getting better,
adapting to some really good players, and I think that’s important.”

The former NFL quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner out of the University of Florida is on a first-place team in the International League that’s thrived on its pitching, and Tebow’s offensive contributions have been minimal. In Syracuse’s first 23 games, Tebow had just 10 hits and was batting .130 with 32 strikeouts. A recent surge of hits in six of seven games that included a game-winning, pinch-hit double boosted the average to .158, still last in the league and well below the dreaded Mendoza Line, but encouraging nonetheless.

“It definitely helps with confidence,” said Tebow,
who turns 32 in mid-August. “More than just confidence, getting into a
rhythm. I think sometimes if you’re not in rhythm you can press a little
bit, swing at pitches you don’t want to swing at. But when you’re in a
rhythm, it just flows a little bit better. I think that’s important.”

Since
giving baseball a shot three years ago after playing in the NFL for
three seasons, at midweek Tebow had these career numbers: a .230 batting
average (197 hits in 856 at-bats), 46 doubles, three triples, 14 home
runs, and 99 RBIs in 258 games. He also had struck out 287 times and
walked 81 times and had an on-base percentage of .307, a slugging mark
of .340, and an OPS of .647 (OPS is the sum of a player’s on-base
percentage and slugging average, a measure of an ability to get on base
and hit for power).

Tebow displayed solid improvement in Double-A
last year, batting .273 with six home runs, 108 total bases, and 36 RBIs
in 271 at-bats over 84 games for Binghamton of the Eastern League
before an injury to his right hand ended his season. The step up to
Triple-A has been imposing.

“Double-A pitching is a lot of younger
guys that have good velocity on the fastball but no secondary pitches,”
Syracuse Mets manager Tony DeFrancesco said. “Here, Tim is seeing
everything coming at him but the kitchen sink. They’re throwing
fastballs hard in on him, they’re breaking balls, they’re elevating. He
just hasn’t seen enough of that right now — and they’re throwing
strikes.”

“I
think he’s feeling more confident of late. I’m sure he thinks about he
hasn’t hit a home run yet or driving the ball,” Syracuse hitting coach
Joel Chimelis said. “If you play the game long enough at this level,
confidence is a very big thing, knowing that you’re going to go up there
and you’re going to hit the ball hard.”

“It’s a good sign for
anybody to get a hitting streak, a couple of big hits, driving the ball
better,” added DeFrancesco. “Now, you’re hoping that the power comes.
He’s playing a corner position in baseball, which is offensive
production, so he’s going to definitely need to drive some home runs
soon. Getting into June you’ve got to be able to put up the numbers.”

Tebow’s
struggles at the plate have brought out plenty of skeptics who think
playing some day in the major leagues for the parent New York Mets is a
pipe dream at best, that maybe it’s time to do something else. He just
smiles and remains focused on the task at hand, moments like being
relegated to batting ninth as the team’s designated hitter in one game
an afterthought at best.

“I don’t necessarily set goals,” Tebow
said. “For me, it’s just being able to really go back and look every day
at the film and know that I’m improving and constantly stay kind on
that progression plan where I feel like every day, every week, every
month, I’m improving. I feel like I’ve done that so far.”

Chimelis
has worked hard of late to correct Tebow’s swing, which he called “real
late” and something that’s easily exploited at this level.

“Here
in Triple-A the pitching is pretty good,” Chimelis said. “They’ve had a
lot of experience, and if they see something in a hitter they’re going
to expose it. But within the last week or so, he’s improved. He hit
about four balls hard and had nothing to show for it. It’s baseball.
It’s so frustrating. You hit the ball right, but you don’t get
rewarded.”

Just part of the journey.

“He’s going to try to
beat the odds for sure. It won’t be for lack of effort, I can tell you
that,” DeFrancesco said. “One thing to put in perspective, he’s only
been playing pro ball three years. He’s climbed very quick. He’s at a
level that maybe he’s not ready for at the current time, but the at-bats
are going to tell.

“It’s just going to take maybe a little more
time. He’s not the first guy, if it doesn’t work this year, come back to
Triple-A again. There’s been numerous players that have two, three
years of Triple-A. Just look at my baseball card, I’ve got three or four
at Triple-A. It’s not that easy, and I played my whole life. So give
the kid some time and some credit. It’s definitely a work in progress.”

]]> In Orlando on Thursday night on his spring speaking tour, Florida football coach Dan Mullen was asked about the rivalry between UF and UCF. He kind of shook his head at that question.

“They’d have to play us to get a rivalry,” Mullen said. “We made an offer to play them.” UF did, but UCF turned it down. The Gators offered to play the Knights in a three-game series, with two games being played in Gainesville and the other in Orlando.

Despite that offer — and UCF’s refusal to accept it — the perception among Knights’ fans (and others in Orlando) remains that UF, the established program, is ducking UCF, the school on the rise.

That’s not reality.

“I have no problem scheduling UCF,” Mullen said.

No problem other than UCF not wanting to make it a two-for-one deal.

The Knights didn’t like that idea. But their biggest rival, USF, did — and the Gators and Bulls will be playing a three-game series starting in 2022 in Gainesville. UF will travel to Tampa the following year, then the Bulls will return to The Swamp in 2025.

So, there’s a chance UF-USF is going to grow into the rivalry that UF-UCF will not (at least for the foreseeable future).

Mullen is fired up about the UF-USF series.

“We’re real excited,” he said. “The fans and people in Florida are really excited about that matchup coming up. The national stage scheduling is getting a lot of attention, with schools going out there and playing a little bit more of a national schedule.

“But the USF series that’s coming up, even though it might not have the national kind of allure, it has great allure for the people in the state of Florida. That makes it exciting.

“Big picture, that game being scheduled might not be as big an announcement nationally as us playing a Texas or a Colorado, (but) within the state, it is that big of a game. It’s really exciting for us to get that game scheduled.”

]]>Tim Walton has spent most of the year trying to figure out his Florida softball team.

He hopes that last weekend was its true identity.

The Gators (44-15) start NCAA tournament play today at 3:15 p.m. at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium in the Gainesville Regional. Boise State defeated Stanford 9-1 in the other first-round game that started at noon.

Will it be the Gator team that was up-and-down all season or the one that won four straight games at College Station, Texas, to capture the SEC Tournament and earn a No. 5 national seed?

“This team has been a little bit of a mystery to me at times,” Walton said on the eve of regional play. “If each person in that dugout understands how to compete a little bit better and keep things more normal, we have a chance to get to the College World Series.

“We have the talent. We haven’t always shown it. I know what it takes and it looks a lot like last weekend.”

Florida got a dominant three games from pitcher Kelly Barnhill and clutch hits throughout the lineup at the SECs, the latter which had been lacking at times this season.

“We definitely liked College Station,” said senior slugger Amanda Lorenz. “We want to bring that same energy and vibes back to Gainesville.”

Lorenz, at .421 with 40 RBIs, and Kendyl Lindaman, .341 and 51 RBIs, have carried the offense all season. But there were signs of life during the SEC tournament with players such as Jordan Matthews, Jordan Roberts and Hannah Adams delivering big hits.

“We’ve gotta do a good job swinging the bats,” Walton said. “We just need three people to do it. We don’t need seven, we don’t need nine.

“If we get what we had last week, we’re going to be really tough to beat.”

For Lorenz and Barnhill, this will be their last regional, although Florida would host Super Regionals if the Gators advance. Still, the top two picks in softball’s professional draft are thinking about their final rodeo.

“I’ve just tried to leave the last one as Senior Day,” Lorenz said. “This is another game. I’ve been focusing on making every memory count. And postseason is the best time.”

For the seniors, it’s four-for-four as far as hosting regionals.

“The time definitely flies,” Barnhill said. “It seems like just yesterday we were looking around. ‘Oh my gosh, we’re in regional. Oh my gosh, we’re in super regionals. Oh my gosh, we have a chance to go to the World Series.

“It’s a cliche, but time flies, especially when you’re playing the game you love with people you love.”

Like Florida, Boston (37-18) swept through its conference tournament to get here and get a chance to play in the warm glow of the Florida sun.

“We’ve been pretty resilient,” Boston coach Ashley Waters said. “Florida can attest to the fact that you gotta play your best at the end of the year. They got hot at the right time and so did we.

“Florida is one of those teams you continuously see. (Lorenz and Barnhill) have set themselves apart. We know what we’re getting, and that’s two of the best in the country.

“This is what you play for, to play against the best and see how you compare with them.”

Walton said he hasn’t decided if Barnhill will throw the opener, but she has had plenty of rest with the final SEC tourney game being Saturday night.

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Let’s face it. Florida needs to go on a nice winning streak in order to receive an invitation to the NCAA baseball tournament.

Thursday’s 5-4 win at No. 24 Missouri is a good start.

Florida (31-23, 11-17 SEC) edged Missouri (34-19-1, 13-14-1) to open the final regular-season series of the season. It’s Florida’s 10th consecutive win over Missouri.

“We fought tonight,” UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “We haven’t had a whole lot of success on the road in the league this year, and this was hopefully a step in the right direction in the development of some of our younger guys.

“This is one of the better Missouri teams that they’ve had over the last few years. This team needed something good to happen and this was one we needed to pull out. It would have been deflating to lose this ballgame, and say ‘Here we go again.’ The same thing that’s happened throughout the year. They battled and they fought.”

Missouri took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly from Chad McDaniel, but the Gators rebounded with four runs in the top of the fifth inning to take the lead.

Cory Acton and Jud Fabian each hit two-run home runs in the inning to give Florida a 4-1 lead. UF added another run in the sixth inning as Brady Smith scored from second on a wild pitch.

The Tigers mounted a comeback in the seventh inning and knocked Tommy Mace (8-4) from the game. With the bases loaded, Mace walked in a run before getting the second out with a strikeout.

Chris Cornelius lined a ball to second base that would have ended the inning, but Jacob Young couldn’t hold on, as Missouri cut the Gators’ lead to 5-4.

Jordan Butler relieved Mace and escaped the jam with a strikeout to end the inning. He retired the final seven Missouri batters of the game to pick up his first save of the season.

“What can you say about Jordan Butler?” O’Sullivan asked. “We went to the pen yesterday and had a pen session, quite frankly a heart-to-heart, about some things he needed to change in his delivery, raise his slot and change his front side a little bit. Talked about his lead leg a little bit. So it was a lot thrown at him yesterday in the pen, really gave him an ultimatum, for lack of a better term. For him to come out there tonight and do exactly what we asked him to do in the pen and make that quick of an adjustment with his delivery, it was awesome. It was good to see him have some success, because it hadn’t quite gone his way this year. Certainly with the way he threw tonight it will be a step in the right direction.”

Mace finished the night with four runs allowed, two earned, in 6.2 innings.

The teams go at it again at 7:30 p.m. (ET) Friday (SEC Network+) before wrapping up the series at 3 p.m. Saturday.

“I had hoped that this team would have figured out the competitive spirit that it takes to play in this league a little sooner, but they certainly have shown some fight the last couple weekends,” O’Sullivan said. “Tonight could have gotten away from them, but it didn’t. They made some pitches, made some plays, all in all, it may only be one win in the win column, but for us and the way this season has gone, this is a big win for us and hopefully for the development of our young players.”

ORLANDO — No. 3 seed Florida routed No. 6 Baylor 4-0 Thursday to advance to the final four of the NCAA men’s tennis tournament at the USTA National Campus.

Florida (25-3) will play No. 2 seed Texas (27-3) at 12 p.m. Saturday in one national semifinal, while No. 4 seed Wake Forest and No. 9 North Carolina play in the other semis at 4 p.m. The Tennis Channel is providing coverage.

“We haven’t played (Florida) in a couple of years,” Texas interim coach Bruce Berque said. “I know they’re very well coached and they have a great team.”

The semifinal winners play for the national championship at 3 p.m. Sunday.

Florida jumped to a quick 1-0 lead over the Bears by winning the doubles point behind the play of Johannes Ingildsen-McClain Kessler and Oliver Crawford-Alfredo Perez.

Then the Gators stormed through the singles competition in straight sets, with Sam Riffice on Court 2, Andy Andrade on Court 5 and Kessler on Court 6 cruising to put UF in its third national semis in program history (the last coming in 2005).

State Attorney Bill Cervone is not yet convinced the allegation rises to the level of a battery charge.

Florida senior running back Lamical Perine could face a battery charge after a tow truck driver accused him of pulling his arm when the driver tried to tow his mother’s vehicle.

Perine, 21, was accused May 7 in a sworn complaint of arguing with a tow truck driver while he tried to hook onto the car to tow it. The car did not have a required decal.

Perine grabbed the tow truck driver’s arm and pulled him away from the car in an attempt to thwart his towing efforts, according to the complaint.

State Attorney Bill Cervone said Perine was not arrested but could be issued a notice to appear in a court, pending prosecutors’ review.

He said the tow truck driver has not yet talked to attorneys about whether there was more to the encounter or if what Gainesville police wrote in the sworn complaint was accurate.

Cervone has not made a decision on whether to prosecute. However, he’s not convinced the allegation rises to the level of a battery charge.

“That is bullsh–. There’s a certain amount of touching that is not intended to be a criminal matter,” Cervone said. “I could put my arm on your shoulder as I walk past you and technically that’s battery. Some people revel in something that’s not a big deal. It’s a football player and it becomes the end of the world.”

Perine is the presumed starter at tailback for Florida next season.

Perine, a Mobile, Alabama native, racked up nearly 1,000 combined rushing and receiving yards last season as a junior. He scored eight touchdowns.

The case comes after a number of legal issues for the UF football program this off season.

Jalon Jones, a freshman quarterback, transferred from UF after appearing in its spring game. Jones had been accused of sexually assaulting two women April 6, prior to the spring game, but was not arrested because the women did not cooperate with investigators.

Florida junior cornerback Brian Edwards was arrested a month later for misdemeanor battery, after he was accused of grabbing his girlfriend by the neck and scratching her.

Edwards is still taking classes at UF but is not participating in team activities.

UF football assistant director of player personnel Otis Yelverton, 51, remains on administrative leave after his April arrest. He faces an aggravated cyberstalking charge, which is a third-degree felony, court records show.

Yelverton was arrested by Alachua County sheriff’s deputies after they said he left his former girlfriend a voicemail saying he would blow up her vehicle.

Mullen addressed Florida’s off-season issues with the media Wednesday, before a speaking engagement with the Tampa Gator Club.

“There are a lot of things that you go through as a coach. There are scenarios that are going to come up,” Mullen said. “There’s highs, there’s lows at times of stuff you have to deal with. I don’t think it’s frustrating or angry. There’s more a little bit of disappointment than anything else.”

Florida has yet to address the Perine issue. University Athletic Association spokesman Steve McClain said UF officials are aware of the situation with Perine.

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Gatorsports Roundup: Gators play Bears for final four berthhttp://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/roundup-gators-play-bears-for-final-four-berth/
http://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/roundup-gators-play-bears-for-final-four-berth/#respondThu, 16 May 2019 16:01:33 +0000http://www.gatorsports.com/?p=43036UF baseball team at Missouri

]]>Three seed Florida (24-3) will meet six seed and Big 12 champion Baylor (25-5) at 7 p.m. today in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Championships at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona, Fla. The match will be televised on the Tennis Channel.

A win would put Florida in the national semifinals for only the second time in program history and play at 2 p.m. Saturday against the winner of today’s two-seeded Texas-10 seed TCU match. The other matches today are top-seeded Ohio State vs. 9 seed North Carolina and 5 seed Virginia vs. 4 seed Wake Forest. Saturday’s semifinal winners play for the title at 3 p.m. Sunday.

BASEBALL

Gators finish regular season on road

Florida’s streak of reaching every NCAA Tournament since coach Kevin O’Sullivan took over in 2008 is in jeopardy after the home series loss to Tennessee last weekend.

The Gators (30-23, 10-17 SEC), who finish the regular season at Missouri (34-18-1, 13-13-1), figure to be a double-digit seed in the conference tournament. Florida has reached the College World Series seven times since 2010, winning the 2017 title. The big issue? The team ERA of 5.40 is the highest since 2001.

PULLMAN, Wash. — The Florida men’s golf season came to an end in Pullman by finishing regional play tied for ninth, as only the top five teams from each regional will advance to the NCAA Championships at Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

“Today ends a very frustrating season,” UF coach JC Deacon said. “Every year our expectations are to win championships, and we did not meet those expectations this year. I think this will add fuel to the fire for the 2019-20 season.”

Sophomores Chris Nido and John Axelsen led the way all week for the Gators. Nido finished inside the top 10 at tied for seventh with a final tournament score of nine-under 201, and a season-best 65 in the final round. Axelsen finished tied for 27 at four under and a final score of 206.

“I am excited about our two sophomores, John Axelsen and Chris Nido, as they will be a very strong 1-2 punch at the top of our lineup,” Deacon said. “We have four freshman starting in August who bring a ton of skill, energy, and competitiveness to our program. We need to get our edge back and they will help. I am also looking forward to a clean slate and getting the University of Florida back to where we belong, at the top of college golf.”

Texas A&M won the regional with an 807 (-33), while UF shot 832 (-8). Joining the Aggies at the NCAA finals from the regional Brigham Young, Oklahoma, Georgia Tech, Colorado State and South Carolina.

TAMPA — For the first time since the spring game, Florida football coach Dan Mullen met with the media prior to his speech Wednesday to the Tampa Gator Club at Armature Works.

From the accusations against former UF quarterback Jalon Jones to the recent transfer of cornerback Chris Steele, Mullen addressed the recent offseason troubles that have unfolded in the public eye.

“There are a lot of things that you go through as a coach. There are scenarios that are going to come up,” Mullen said. “There’s highs, there’s lows at times of stuff you have to deal with. I don’t think it’s frustrating or angry. There’s more a little bit of disappointment than anything else.”

Jones, whom Mullen recruited since his freshman year of high school, was accused of sexually assaulting two female students April 6. The women declined to press charges against Jones, but he entered the NCAA transfer database late last month regardless.

Mullen explained why Jones played in the spring game April 13.

“Reports were coming out to us at that point,” Mullen said. “But within that situation, as reports get to you, we try to turn them over and follow the university and campus protocols that we have. I think we immediately tried to follow campus protocol with everything that happened and when we got the details of the situation, we immediately suspended him from team activities until we could get all the information.”

The Sun first reported details surrounding Steele’s departure last Thursday. According to sources, the decision stemmed from the April 6 incident and a request Steele made during his first month on campus to not room with Jones.

A plan was in place to move Steele in the summer, but the assault accusations led to an irreparable situation, according to sources. When Steele’s parents first learned of the allegations against Jones through the release of the police reports May 2, he and his family decided it was in his best interest to transfer, sources said.

There were also reports of Steele being homesick, which he denied to The Sun.

Mullen did not get into the specifics of Steele’s transfer Wednesday, but said a lot of factors were in play.

“I think with Chris and his situation, we discussed with him and his family a lot of things that went into the decision he was going to make to go to school back on the West Coast,” Mullen said. “To me, there were a bunch of things that went into that decision. I don’t really want to go into all of them, because they were really kind of a private conversation between us and his family. Those are tough decisions for family, and I’d rather leave a lot of those things private.”

Mullen said he and his wife flew to California last Wednesday to support Steele with his decision, whether he elected to return or transfer. Steele announced Tuesday he will transfer to Oregon.

Mullen, asked if there’s anything he would have done differently with the Steele situation, was noncommittal.

“I don’t know. I think there was a lot that went into that for him and his family in that decision,” Mullen said. “One of the things that we’ve done is try to support him. For me, I’ve supported him from the day he got on campus and even through today. We’re still trying to support him and help him work through his decision and help him in the future.”

Mullen also answered questions regarding the ongoing legal troubles surrounding Florida cornerback Brian Edwards and director of player personnel Otis Yelverton. He said Edwards is still taking classes but not participating in team activities, while Yelverton remains on administrative leave.

Edwards was arrested earlier this month on a misdemeanor battery charge for allegedly grabbing his girlfriend by the neck when she tried to leave their apartment during an argument. Edwards pleaded not guilty.

Yelverton, 51, is facing a third-degree felony for aggravated cyberstalking.

“It’s really disappointing for us when we have individuals, whether it’s a student-athlete or a staff member, make a decision that really negatively affects them, but also shines a little bit of a negative on the program,” Mullen said. “I do like to make sure processes play out for individuals. … Even though you may like to rush to a judgment immediately, you do like to let processes play out for individuals before I rush to judge their futures when they haven’t even gone through a legal process or anything else.

“I don’t see anything acceptable about that, any violence toward women, whether it’s a violent act or a wrongful sexual act. I’d love to take a strong stance to that, but I also like to have all the information before I have to make final decisions.”

]]>TAMPA — Dan Mullen’s return trip to Tampa wasn’t under the most auspicious circumstances, but the second-year UF coach still had plenty of time for pleasantries.

In front of nearly 500 people Wednesday night, Mullen addressed the Tampa Gator Club at The Gathering at Armature Works showing little fatigue from the negative headlines that have swirled around the program early into the offseason; instead, the Gators head coach made sure to focus on UF’s program-wide accomplishments rather than harp on present issues.

“There’s so many outstanding things around the university. You look at the football team last year, finishing 6th in the country,” Mullen said. “Finishing with wins over FSU, and Michigan in the bowl game.

“We are the only program in the country that’s ranked both in the top-10 in academics and in football.”

Florida’s educational prestige was a focal point of much of Mullen’s address, which also featured an appreciation toward older generations of UF alumni that “set the Gator standard.” Early on, Mullen turned the questions toward an undisclosed former UF faculty member — one of many engaging moments during the night — who at the age of 87 shared just one lament with Mullen: she wished he had been the program’s head coach several years ago.

As he has throughout his time at the helm in Gainesville, Mullen came prepared with plenty of quote-worthy quips — some of which may serve as bulletin-board material for UF’s numerous rivals.

“I came back to UF to win championships,” Mullen said. “That’s why I came back. That’s the goal.”

Now in his 11th season as a head coach in the SEC, Mullen took time to reminisce on his introduction to coaching.

“This guy played for me, named Tim Tebow,” said Mullen, drawing cheers from the crowd. “No, I do what I do because I want to see young people succeed. I get to make a positive impact on young people’s lives. That’s the rewarding thing, that’s really what sticks with me.”

Still riding high after UF’s 2018 season, and not one to let an opportunity to compliment the overhaul he helped orchestrate slip away, Mullen recapped the culture change the program endured upon his arrival in Gainesville.

“I didn’t know the players, the players didn’t know us. The first question I asked (upon arriving) was really simple, ‘how many of you want to a win a championship?’ Guess what, everyone did ‘Oh me Coach, I want to championship’,” said Mullen. “I said ‘Put your hands down, you’re all lying to me. If you wanted to win a championship, I wouldn’t be standing here, right? You wouldn’t have a new coach right now. You wish you could win a championship — there’s a big difference between wishing and wanting. Wishers sit around, think and wish about it. Wanters get up and go do something about it.”

When it came to measuring that progress over the 18 months he’s spent back in Gainesville, Mullen playfully turned the question around on the audience.

“We got better throughout the year, but that’s for you guys to judge. But I hope we’re a better team at the end of a year. And it’s really simple: how many push-ups can you do?,” Mullen said. “35? I’m not going to make you do it, unless you want to. But think of this, if you do 35 push-ups today, and you can do 35 tomorrow and 35 the next day, I’m going to bet by the middle of next week you can do 36. I bet by the week after that, you can do 37. Two weeks after that, you can do 40. A month from now, you’ll be able to do 50, and you’re going to keep going up and up and up, right? Because if I can do the most I can do today, I might have the ability to do more tomorrow. Whatever I gave today, I have to find a way to go a little bit harder tomorrow.”

Before concluding the night’s festivities, Mullen drove home the message of community and how Florida’s fans were instrumental to the program’s success. Considering Mullen has repeatedly stressed the program’s raised the bar — and in turn the expectations — only time will tell if Mullen’s message resonated.

“I want to give you this challenge. I’m sure everyone here wants us to win a championship. Are we wanters or wishers?,” Mullen said. “If you don’t think how important you are to our team, I will say (fan support) has a major impact on our performance.”

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Graham Hall Former UF swimmer to compete on ‘Survivor’http://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/former-uf-swimmer-to-compete-on-survivor/
http://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/former-uf-swimmer-to-compete-on-survivor/#respondWed, 15 May 2019 15:58:19 +0000http://www.gatorsports.com/?p=43027The next season of “Survivor” will be its 39th and will air this fall on CBS.

Former University of Florida swimmer Elizabeth Beisel will likely put her aquatic talents to use on the next season of the reality television series “Survivor,” according to insidesurvivor.com.

Beisel, 26, is a 12-time All-American who won NCAA championships in the 200-yard backstroke in 2012 and the 400-yard individual medley in 2013. She was also named SEC Freshman of the Year in 2012 during her four years as a Gator.

The Rhode Island native also competed at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics, winning a silver medal in the 400-meter individual medley and a bronze medal in the 200-meter backstroke at the 2012 Games.

The next season of “Survivor” will be its 39th and will air this fall on CBS.

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Gatorsports Motherly nurturing brings out best in Jaguars’ Taylorhttp://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/motherly-nurturing-brings-out-best-in-jaguars-taylor/
http://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/motherly-nurturing-brings-out-best-in-jaguars-taylor/#commentsWed, 15 May 2019 10:49:48 +0000http://www.gatorsports.com/?p=43024By Gene Frenette, GateHouse Florida JACKSONVILLE — For almost 40 minutes, Jawaan Taylor is sitting inside a Jaguars’ media relations office and it’s impossible to wipe the smile or glow off his face. That’s because he’s peeling off layer after layer, story after story, about one of his favorite topics: Wendy Taylor. By nature, the […]

JACKSONVILLE — For almost 40 minutes, Jawaan Taylor is sitting inside a Jaguars’ media relations office and it’s impossible to wipe the smile or glow off his face. That’s because he’s peeling off layer after layer, story after story, about one of his favorite topics: Wendy Taylor.

By
nature, the Jaguars’ 312-pound offensive tackle is pretty outgoing and
good-natured, but nothing quite sends him to a happy place like talking
about his Mom.

On the day before Mother’s Day, right in the middle
of the team’s rookie minicamp, he was still mulling over a gift
strategy. Though Jawaan won’t get down to Viera, near Melbourne, to see
his mother for another two weeks due to football obligations, he’s
waiting for the right gift idea to hit him.

“I don’t know yet, I’m trying to go all-out,” Jawaan said.

For
two-plus decades, Wendy Taylor has always gone all-out for her two
sons, but especially 21-year-old Jawaan because, well, she just felt he
needed a little more maternal nurturing than older brother Jeremy, the
more independent one growing up.

“I’m a momma’s boy, I really am,”
said Jawaan. “When I was a kid, everybody used to say how I was always
with my Mom. Everywhere my Mom went, I was glued to her. We’re very
close.”

Don’t get the wrong idea here. Taylor’s father, Robert – a
UPS driver and assistant pastor at the House of God, a Pentecostal
Christian church in Palm Bay — and Wendy have been married 25 years.
Both attend all of their kids’ activities faithfully and Jawaan admires
the “great example of a successful marriage” his parents set, but their
roles in raising them were slightly different.

While Robert was
the disciplinarian, Wendy represents the anchor and family heartbeat. So
just as part of Jawaan’s job now is to protect quarterbacks, Wendy was
always fiercely protective of her baby that she nicknamed “Wanny” when
he was 6-months-old, a monicker all his close friends and family call
him to this day.

To understand how Taylor — already 6-foot-3, 325
pounds by the time he was in eighth grade — managed to have no scars
from all the razzing he used to take from kids in his early years for
his big belly, or how he dropped 53 pounds before his senior year at
Cocoa High to earn a scholarship to Florida, or why he refused to be
emotionally crushed over the NFL bypassing him in the first round of the
April draft, all that stuff has Mom’s fingerprints all over it.

“We had that bond all the way through,” said Wendy. “I’d say,
‘Wanny, you got this. I believe in you.’ He loved hearing that. He
doesn’t do anything big without calling me first, and he listens.”

A weighty matter

When
Jawaan Taylor arrived three weeks early in 1997 and still weighed 8
pounds, 13 ounces at birth, Wendy’s mother, Gwendolyn Lewis, told her
that was the first clue about where No. 75 for the Jaguars might end up.

“He
had the biggest hands and feet you ever want to see on a baby,” said
Wendy. “We knew right there where he was headed. My Mom said he looked
like a football player.”

Taylor started playing competitive
football at age 4 in Rockledge Little League, and as the years wore on,
the issue of his weight always hovered over him. As much as Wanny loved
football, he also loved his Mom’s macaroni and cheese, potato chips,
fried chicken, pizza and all the usual starches.

“I babied him a
lot,” said Wendy. “He was overweight, kind of picked on for his size
because he was chunky. I was the one building his self-esteem. I used to
take his belly and shake it, telling him the other kids were just
jealous because they wanted to be big, too.”

Mom saw to it that
her son never allowed his weight to diminish his self-image. Playing
football played a part in that. So did playing the drums in the House of
God church choir, something Jawaan learned at age 6 and continues to do
as he recently performed on Easter Sunday.

But until his weight ballooned to 383 pounds after his junior
year at Cocoa High — prompting then-Florida offensive line coach Mike
Summers to tell Jawaan in 2015 that the Gators would only offer him a
scholarship on the condition of him dropping serious weight and keeping
it off — Taylor was never focused on being in tip-top condition.

“The
light [to lose weight] would never come on in his head until he was
given a chance to go to his dream school,” Wendy said of Florida.
“That’s what motivated him to drop all that weight.”

Mom played a
big part in that, too. The week after attending UF’s football camp,
Jawaan went to a House of God convention in Nashville and made it a
point to eat all healthy goods. When he came home and stepped on a scale
in front of his parents and brother, it astonished him in a good way
that he lost 10 pounds.

The next day, Wendy decided the whole family was going to go on a health kick to help Jawaan get that UF scholarship.

“She
trashed all the bad stuff, cleaned everything out of the pantry and
fridge and bought $300 worth of healthy stuff,” said Jawaan.

No
more pans of Mom’s macaroni and cheese. Out went the chips, Jell-O
puddings, Little Debbie snack cakes and Hot Pockets. In came salads,
chicken, fish, fruits and fresh vegetables. If Jawaan came home from
football practice hungry — while Dad was still driving the UPS truck and
Wendy was working at the “Styles for Diva” hair salon she owns — there
was an abundance of healthy choices for him to eat and cook himself.

“Mom
made the whole family change their eating habits just for me,” Jawaan
said. “When I was on a weight-loss plan, they were on it, too. That
motivated me even more to lose the weight. It’s harder when you got all
the bad stuff in the house and everybody is eating it in front of you.”

Wendy overhauling the family menu, along with Jawaan’s dietary
discipline, paid off. On November 24, 2015, the day before his 18th
birthday, after Jawaan dropped 53 pounds in two-plus months and played
his senior year at 330 pounds, Florida offered him a scholarship. He
committed to the Gators four days later.

“A lot of kids will lose weight and put it back on,” said New Smyrna
Beach football coach John Wilkinson, who was Taylor’s head coach at
Cocoa. “He’s been able to keep it off. He knew he was a much better
player at a leaner, more athletic weight.

“I’m proud of Wanny. He set a goal and went about achieving it.”

A big push from Mom certainly helped things along.

Seeing his mother’s heart

Jawaan’s
family bond is undeniable. He maintains one of the toughest times he
went through was training for the NFL combine and his UF Pro Day, but
not because of the conditioning workouts at Exos in Pensacola, which
caused him unintentionally to drop another 15 pounds to his current
weight of 312.

No, what drove Taylor stir crazy was a plain and
simple case of separation anxiety. He went nearly three months without
seeing Mom, Dad, Jeremy or half-sister Shaquitta, his father’s
biological child from high school.

“That was the toughest time ever,” said Jawaan. “I’ve never been away from my family that long.”

The
Taylor family connection runs deep. His late maternal grandmother
insisted on a tight-knit unit, and nobody carried on that tradition with
a greater passion than Wendy. It’s another reason why Jawaan leans on
and listens to his mother’s advice in all facets of his life – school,
finances, female relationships, etc.

Robert and uncle Marlon
Lewis, his personal trainer, are respected male role models, and
high-profile Drew Rosenhaus is his agent, but there’s no doubt that Mom
is the go-to person.

“First off, she’s just a very sweet lady,”
said Jawaan. “Anybody can talk to her and hold a full conversation.
Anything my family needed, she went out of her way to make sure it was
good and provided for. She’s a good-hearted person and very pretty.

“She’s
also very God-fearing. She prays for us like no other. My Mom would be
up at 3 or 4 in the morning while everybody else sleeps, just praying
for the whole family. Any kid would kill to have my Mom, to be honest.”

Almost
everything in the Taylor family runs through Wendy. After Florida’s
Peach Bowl win over Michigan, she organized the catering for a family
gathering of 54 members at an Atlanta hotel so Jawaan could announce in
front of them that he was bypassing his senior year to enter the NFL
draft.

When Jawaan, expected to be the first offensive lineman
taken in the draft, went the entire first round without being selected,
there wasn’t much doubt who would take charge to lift his spirits.
Taylor had to wait another 24 hours in Nashville before the Jaguars
selected him in the second round with the No. 35 overall pick.

“Drew [Rosenhaus] told us the draft is unpredictable, but it was so tough,” said Wendy. “You couldn’t tell me he would go the whole night without being drafted. I was devastated. It was his dream
to go first round.

“The first thing he said [after the first round] was, ‘Oh, my God, I feel like I let you guys down.’ ”

That comment tugged at Wendy’s heart, causing her to walk away so she could cry momentarily without Jawaan seeing her face.

But
just as quickly, her maternal instincts kicked in. She went back to
being the mother Jawaan always knew, the strong, nurturing woman that
refused to let her overweight baby boy feel bad for being different than
the other kids.

So Wendy told Jawaan this after that first-round
NFL snub: “You have not let me down. I never asked you to be the best.
The only thing I expected was your best. You gave this thing your best.”

With
that kind of motherly encouragement and love, is it any wonder Taylor
is a momma’s boy? Or wants a lot of his mother’s traits in a future
wife? Or why he’s still angling to come up with just the right Mother’s
Day gift, like that first pair of brown Gucci tennis shoes he bought for
Wendy on her last birthday.

The present for Mom won’t be a new
house or car because his parents already provided that for themselves
long before the Jaguars or anybody else coveted him.

In reality,
Wendy Taylor already has what she wants for Mother’s Day: a son who
adores his mother, says he gives her hugs that often last 30 seconds or
longer, and is living out his NFL dream two hours from home. Some gifts,
a mother just can’t put a price on.

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Gatorsports Steele decides to transfer to Oregonhttp://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/steele-decides-to-transfer-to-oregon/
http://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/steele-decides-to-transfer-to-oregon/#commentsTue, 14 May 2019 23:53:23 +0000http://www.gatorsports.com/?p=43020Freshman now going to be playing closer to his California roots.

]]>It didn’t take former Florida cornerback Chris Steele long to settle on a new home.

He’s taking his five-star talent to Oregon, he announced on Twitter on Tuesday. The Ducks finished second behind Florida for Steele during the recruiting process, but the early enrollee put his name in the NCAA transfer portal last week and is now going to be playing closer to his California roots.

The Sun learned last week Steele made the decision to leave UF because the coaches would not move him to a new dorm room during the spring semester, away from fellow true freshman quarterback Jalon Jones, who was accused of sexual assault by two UF female students in April.

UPD did not pursue a case against Jones because the witnesses elected not to press charges. Steele, along with true freshman cornerback Jaydon Hill, was named in the police incident report, but both were cleared.

Steele is the third player who has dropped out of UF’s 2019 recruiting class, joining Jones and four-star linebacker Diwun Black, who will be enrolling in a junior college this summer due to academic deficiencies.

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Robbie Andreu 2019 SEC football schedulehttp://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/2019-sec-football-schedule/
http://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/2019-sec-football-schedule/#commentsTue, 14 May 2019 20:08:09 +0000http://www.gatorsports.com/?p=43018The post 2019 SEC football schedule appeared first on GatorSports.com.
]]>The post 2019 SEC football schedule appeared first on GatorSports.com.
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Gatorsports Andreu’s Analysis: Tumbling recruiting classhttp://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/andreus-analysis-tumbling-recruiting-class/
http://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/andreus-analysis-tumbling-recruiting-class/#commentsTue, 14 May 2019 19:31:21 +0000http://www.gatorsports.com/?p=43016Florida no longer has a top-10 football recruiting class for 2019. Sure, if you go on the Internet and check out the class rankings, the Gators are still sitting inside the top 10. They’re at No. 8 on Rivals and No. 9 on 247. The reality, of course, is this is no longer a top-10 […]

]]> Florida no longer has a top-10 football recruiting class for 2019.

Sure, if you go on the Internet and check out the class rankings, the Gators are still sitting inside the top 10. They’re at No. 8 on Rivals and No. 9 on 247.

The reality, of course, is this is no longer a top-10 class because three of its highest-ranked prospects — four or five-star cornerback Chris Steele, four-star linebacker Diwun Black and four or three-star quarterback Jalon Jones — are no longer part of it.

With those three off the list, the Gators would tumble outside of the top 10 if the classes were re-ranked by the recruiting services, which they have not.

The Gators now have a class of 22 that features 14 four stars and eight three stars according to 247 and 11 four stars and 11 three star on Rivals.

If the classes were re-ranked, the Gators likely would be sitting in the No. 15 or 16 spot in both services, just behind Washington, which is currently at No. 16 in both.

UF’s average star ranking falls off considerably on Rivals. On signing day, the Gators averaged 3.64 stars per signee. Now, that average is at just 3.25.

Even with the loss of Steele, Black and Jones, this is still a pretty solid class. But it’s no longer a top-10 class. Not even close. If there is any further attrition — and that’s certainly a possibility — this class could eventually end up out of the top 20.

The pressure is now on Dan Mullen and his staff to get the Gators back in the top 10 with the 2020 class.

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Gatorsports 2019 football signee won’t make it to UF campus this summerhttp://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/2019-football-signee-wont-make-it-to-uf-campus-this-summer/
http://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/2019-football-signee-wont-make-it-to-uf-campus-this-summer/#commentsTue, 14 May 2019 12:55:52 +0000http://www.gatorsports.com/?p=43013Diwun Black tweets he will be attending a community college instead.

Four-star linebacker Diwun Black announced on Twitter on Monday night that he has not made sufficient grades to enroll at UF this summer and will be attending a community college instead.

Black is the third four-star recruit to leave the class in the last few weeks, joining quarterback Jalon Jones and cornerback Chris Steele. Jones and Steele are in the NCAA transfer database and are not expected to remain at UF.

UF coach Dan Mullen responded to Black’s news on Twitter, posting the following: “You know we got your back and you are a Gator. Keep grinding.”

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Robbie Andreu The Back Nine: UF football still work in progresshttp://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/the-back-nine-uf-football-still-work-in-progress/
http://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/the-back-nine-uf-football-still-work-in-progress/#commentsTue, 14 May 2019 10:43:14 +0000http://www.gatorsports.com/?p=43010The Back Nine comes at you after a weekend with plenty of news and a Mother’s Day Sunday that made me miss mine that much more. 10. Certainly, last week was not the best for Dan Mullen with the whole Chris Steele saga and some high-profile commitments changing their minds about UF. And it didn’t […]

]]>The Back Nine comes at you after a weekend with plenty of news and a Mother’s Day Sunday that made me miss mine that much more.

10. Certainly, last week was not the best for Dan Mullen with the whole Chris Steele saga and some high-profile commitments changing their minds about UF. And it didn’t help when some Gidiots went after Steele on Twitter. Sometimes I think Twitter should require a license, like, you have to pass a common sense test to log on, but that’s another story for another day. There certainly was a faction of UF fans who turned on Mullen, although I get the level of concern right now because he worked so hard to close the gap with Georgia and now it feels like — personnel-wise — the Bulldogs are starting to pull away again. But this is a long-term project, not one that will be defined by one player leaving. It wasn’t a good look for Florida publicly, but as is the case with every transfer there is more to the story. And Mullen isn’t the kind of coach who is going to come out and say anything about a player leaving just so you can feel better about yourself.

11. I don’t know why I am surprised at anything anymore, but John Beilien to the Cavs was definitely one of those “What!??!?” moments Monday morning (Beilein once said of Michigan, “This is our home forever.”) Now Michigan has a big hire to make and, of course, one of the names that has popped up is Billy Donovan. I don’t know if Billy wants to get back into the grind of recruiting, but Michigan has to take a swing at him. One reason the NBA appealed to him was that Donovan is a basketball junkie and loved the idea of only having to worry about basketball. I’ve never gotten the impression he is anything but happy in Oklahoma City, but he’s 4-12 in the postseason since Kevin Durant’s departure. There have been inquiries before from elite programs about Donovan’s availability since he went to the NBA and he has passed. He is on a one-year deal so it will be interesting to see where this goes.

12. So here is what we know about Florida’s first-round opponent in the NCAA softball tournament, Boston University. The coach, Ashley Waters, is a star on the rise. Top pitcher Ali DuBois has faced Tennessee and Arkansas early this season and allowed 10 hits in 5.2 innings. Alex Heinen is the top hitter at .332 with 10 home runs but the Terriers have hit only 31 and rank only 157th in home runs per game. The two programs have faced each other twice, splitting a pair of games, the most recent was a 4-3 Florida loss way back in 2000 in Tampa, where one of the UF pitchers was current LSU coach Beth (Dieter) Torina. The most interesting thing will be to see if Tim Walton unleashes red-hot Kelly Barnhill on Boston or saves her for the Saturday game.

13. Allow me for a minute to go into my full softball geek mode and tell you that the NCAA Selection Committee seems to have gotten most of it right, but the one area where there was controversy involved the mighty Gators. Once again, a selection committee is pushing teams to schedule tougher opponents in the non-conference and it certainly helped Florida and hurt regular-season SEC champs Alabama. If you’ve seen the video of the reaction of the Florida players when their five seed was announced, they are almost incredulous, like they were sheepish about being such a high seed. I was stunned as well, especially with Alabama being an eight. Alabama swept Florida in Gainesville and lost by a run in the SEC Tournament final. But the Tide played the 106th toughest non-conference schedule. On the other hand, Minnesota got the seven seed because it played one of the toughest schedules in the conference but also went 0-5 against SEC teams. In the end, Alabama still gets to stay at home, so it’s almost meaningless. But as is always the case with selection committees, there is flawed logic. It was reminiscent of the Florida men’s basketball team in that they played a tough schedule and it didn’t seem to matter that they lost most of those difficult non-conference games.

14. Meanwhile, it doesn’t look like we will see a postseason for the Gator baseball team, something that hasn’t happened under Kevin O’Sullivan. It’s difficult to see a path to the NCAA tournament that doesn’t include a sweep at Missouri this weekend and maybe a couple of wins at the SEC Tournament. I thought that come-from-behind win against Tennessee on Friday might turn this thing around, but pitching continues to be a problem. Crooked numbers, getting behind in counts, gopher balls to light hitters, it’s all there. The guys expected to carry the load on the mound have been scuffling and Sully has been forced to push freshmen into roles they were not ready for. Junior Austin Langworthy said it was “embarrassing” that the Gators finished off their home schedule with two losses in must-win games, but it’s just been one of those seasons to forget. And yet, you’d like to think the guys next year will be hungry to restore the standard. Don’t forget, this group was talking about a national championship in the preseason.

15. Anyway, it’s a men’s tennis school, right? There is not much that is more agonizing than watching the scores in real time on your phone of a match as tight as Florida’s win over Tennessee to advance to the Elite Eight in Orlando. Duarte Vale, who won his 13th straight match, got the clincher for UF, his second one in the NCAAs. Talk about a clutch gene. Next up is Baylor at 7 p.m. Thursday for a chance to reach the final four.

16. As usual, I get into the NBA during the playoffs — the fourth quarter of the playoff games. My Golden State bandwagon still has room for anyone who wants to get on board. So we have the conference finals this week and the PGA (my pick to win is Xander Schauffele, at 25-1, so go make some money) and softball regionals all going on this week. Is it a great time of the year or what?

17. The Tweet of the Week comes from Yahoo Sports stud columnist Pat Forde — “Maximum Security jockey Luis Saez was suspended 15 days for his Kentucky Derby infraction. John Beilein is an NBA coach. Didn’t expect either development this morning.” That pretty much sums it up. That’s why we love sports. There are no scripts.

18. Because I haven’t been driving until recently because of the knee surgery, I’ve missed my Sirius music channels. And yet, I still came up with this playlist:

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Pat Dooley Portal scouting: Searching for transfers in college footballhttp://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/portal-scouting-searching-for-transfers-in-college-football/
http://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/portal-scouting-searching-for-transfers-in-college-football/#commentsMon, 13 May 2019 19:36:18 +0000http://www.gatorsports.com/?p=43004The NCAA's new transfer rules have changed the process by which athletes switch schools, loosening some restrictions and leading more players to explore options.

Justin Crouse, director of player personnel for Memphis, makes his first check of the transfer portal around 8 a.m. each day, searching for new names in the NCAA’s database of football players looking for a new school.

He checks again at lunch and one more time — at least — before he calls it a day.

For years, Crouse’s primary duties for Memphis have been identifying and evaluating recruits in high school and junior college. That was pre-portal.

“I would say 40 percent of the time now is concentrating on guys that are leaving other places,” Crouse said.

The NCAA’s new transfer rules have changed the process by which athletes switch schools, loosening some restrictions and leading more players to explore options. Football coaches have responded by throwing more manpower toward monitoring that growing talent pool and scouting the portal.

“We get an alert every day that somebody gets added into the portal, but then we get a weekly breakdown of position, hometown,” Memphis coach Mike Norvell said. “And then trying to collect all the information, the video, to get a sense of who these kids have developed to be.”

The portal is the NCAA’s cryptic name for the database it maintains to track which athletes — in all sports — have notified their schools they wish to transfer. The big change from last year’s rules reform was athletes no longer needed to request permission to transfer. Schools and coaches can no longer stop a transfer and dictate where the athlete goes. The point of the portal was to create transparency and order.

Before rules reform, the transfer process could be clandestine. Because athletes needed permission from their current coach to be contacted by other schools, it encouraged third parties to get involved, an active grapevine filled with high school and 7-on-7 coaches, personal trainers, parents and friends of friends.

“Before it was by word of mouth,” Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck said. “Somebody gave you a call, ‘This guy might be transferring,’ and get going. Now, it’s every day we have people that are in our program checking the portal.”

The portal provides more exposure for the transferring player and, ostensibly, more opportunities. Instead of deals being struck under the table even before players officially were granted their release, now every school in the country has the chance to make a pitch.

“It takes away … the middleman in making the connection,” Norvell said.

Portal patrol duties tend to fall to the player personnel department — or some equivalent.

Crouse said he prioritizes players from Memphis’ recruiting area and those who play positions of team need. All highly productive players and quarterbacks get a look, too. Crouse compiles background material and film, going back to high school, using services such as Hudl and Pro Football Focus. He then sends that information to the Memphis coaches sorting by position, recruiting area and previous relationships.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart compared working the portal to NFL teams having a portion of their scouting department dedicated to veteran free agents.

“We just happen to have a larger pool (of players), which is the portal,” Smart said. “We know most of the guys on the board because we knew them coming out of high school and so we had a background on that. We said, ‘yeah, we didn’t think that guy was very good there and that’s why he’s leaving. So we’ll pass. That guy is an intriguing guy because we don’t have that position or we just had a mass exodus of three guys leave some position, juniors came out early we weren’t expecting. Better go to the portal, find a good backup.'”

The portal has opened up the process, but ultimately relationships built during high school recruiting still play a major role.

Oregon coach Mario Cristobal said he wants his staff to keep track of players who really liked Oregon coming out of high school but chose to sign elsewhere.

“This is one we may want to keep on a hot file,” Cristobal said. “So if it does happen, then you have the option to act relatively quickly.”

Staffers are on the lookout not just for talent, but fit — on the field and off.

“He went to this college, but he’s from here. Yeah, that raises attention regardless of position,” Collins said. “He’s leaving because he wants to be closer to home. Well, if his home is Dallas then don’t worry, we’re good.”

Background checks might be the most important part of portal scouting. Why exactly is the player leaving?

“There’s always a story,” Norvell said.

It’s those stories that have made some coaches stick to an old-school approach to pursuing transfers.

Georgia State coach Shawn Elliott said if the Panthers bring in a transfer he prefers it to be a player with which the staff is already familiar.

“But you know we do look at (the portal), but like I said I don’t think you want to build your football program with a bunch of guys that have already quit somewhere,” Elliott said.

And that grapevine is still plenty active.

“I think everyone’s just kind of waiting for that bulletin to pop up,” Cristobal said. “But I think everyone speculates as well.”

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Gatorsports Four true freshman enroll at UFhttp://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/four-true-freshman-enroll-at-uf/
http://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/four-true-freshman-enroll-at-uf/#commentsMon, 13 May 2019 17:23:44 +0000http://www.gatorsports.com/?p=43001 The rest of the class will enroll for the Summer B Semester, which begins July 1.

]]> Four more Florida true freshman football players have enrolled in classes for the Summer A semester and will begin workouts with the rest of the team this week.

Athlete Trent Whittemore, defensive end Khris Bogle, cornerback Kaiir Elam and defensive end Lloyd Summerall have joined the seven members of the 2019 recruiting class that enrolled early and participated in spring practice and the Orange & Blue Game.

The rest of the class will enroll for the Summer B Semester, which begins July 1.

Getting Elam, a four-star prospect, on campus six weeks early could give him a head start on possibly earning playing time in the fall at a position that lacks proven depth and took a recent blow with the departure of highly rated true freshman Chris Steele, who entered his name in the NCAA transfer portal last week. Steele is not expected to return to UF.

]]> Former Florida tight end Moral Stephens has made the most of the opportunity presented him by the Buffalo Bills.

Stephens, in what was basically a tryout with the NFL team, performed so well in a three-day rookie camp over the weekend that the Bills have signed him to an undrafted free-agent contract.

Stephens, despite not being an integral part of UF’s passing game in 2018, still managed to flash his potential in his senior year, catching eight passes for 106 yards and three touchdowns, including a big one on a trick play in the win at Mississippi State.

]]>Momentum is a powerful thing. But it can also be fickle. That’s why it doesn’t come with an expiration date, because no one has any idea how long it’s going to last.

The 2017 Florida Gators know all about momentum, and how quickly it can be lost.

And now it appears the 2019 Gators are starting to find out as well.

Just a few short weeks ago, everything about coach Dan Mullen’s football program seemed positive. The Gators were in full feel-good mode and riding a tidal wave of momentum.

It was momentum that started to kick in late last season, and only surged from there over the following months.

The Gators closed out the 2018 season with back-to-back blowout wins against arch-rival Florida State and Michigan that led to a 10-win season and a place in the final top 10 (No. 6).

Momentum.

Then in February, Mullen and his staff put together a consensus top-10 recruiting class, led by highly rated cornerback and early enrollee Chris Steele out of California, and quickly started putting together an impressive class for 2020.

More momentum.

Then on April 13, the Gators put on a highly entertaining and energizing spring game in The Swamp, with the two teams putting on an offensive show, combining for 95 points, 920 yards and all kinds of explosive plays. And there were dozens of top recruits in attendance to take it all in.

Even more momentum.

At that point, it looked like the Gators were going to be riding their great momentum into preseason camp and all the way to the start of the season.

It appeared there was no stopping it.

Then, a few signs popped up that it might be slowing up just a little bit.

Junior defensive end Antonneous Clayton and redshirt freshman defensive end/tackle Malik Langham, one of the highest-rated members of the 2018 recruiting class, entered the NCAA transfer portal, a hit to the depth on the defensive line.

A little later in April, another negative: assistant director of player personnel Otis Yelverton was arrested for cyberstalking. He remains on leave from the athletic association.

Those were the first signs of the momentum slowing.

Now, the brakes appear to be on after what’s occurred the past two weeks.

Two weeks ago, true freshman quarterback Jalon Jones stunned Gator Nation by entering the transfer portal. A day later, the reason came out: he had been accused by two female students of sexual battery on April 6 in his dorm room.

The victims declined to press charges and the case was closed. Jones’ two roommates — Steele and fellow true freshman cornerback Jaydon Hill — were mentioned in the report but not involved in the assaults in any way, according to two UPD incident reports.

Now, last week, the Gators have been rocked by a triple dose of negativity.

Cornerback Brian Edwards was arrested last Monday for simple battery/date violence for a heated confrontation he had with his girlfriend of two years. According to the arrest report, the woman had marks on her neck and a scratch on her shoulder.

On Thursday came even more stunning news: Steele, the highest-rated prospect in the 2019 recruiting class, entered the transfer portal.

A source told The Sun that his decision to leave stems from a request he made to the coaching staff in January to be moved out of the dorm room with Jones because he was uncomfortable around Jones.

According to the source, the staff told Steele he would have to wait until summer to move to another dorm, which upset Steele and his parents.

Mullen flew to California to apologize to Steele and discuss the possibility of his return. But that seems unlikely.

Later in the day Thursday, five-star Ocala Vanguard defensive end Bryce Langston, the highest-rated member of the 2021 recruiting class, announced on Twitter that he has decommitted from UF and has opened up his recruitment.

Put it all together — the departures, the decommitments, the accusations, the arrests — and it’s momentum gone for the Gators.

The big question now is can they somehow get it back between now and the start of the 2019 season? (There are rumblings that more negative stuff is imminent).

The last Florida team in a similar situation never did.

Two years ago at this time, who would have thought Jim McElwain would not make it through the 2017 season. The Gators had won the SEC East the previous season and were coming off a 30-3 domination of Iowa in the Outback Bowl that gave UF a nine-win season.

So, the Gators carried great momentum into the offseason and everyone was fired up about the upcoming season.

But that momentum vanished over the course of the summer, and UF never got it back.

Nine players, including starting wide receiver Antonio Callaway and starting running back Jordan Scarlett, were suspended before the start of the season because of their involvement in a credit card scam that took place earlier in the summer.

Boom. Just like that, momentum was lost. And it set the tone for what would turn out to be a miserable season, with McElwain losing his job after the eighth game and the Gators sinking to 4-7.

The current Gators certainly seem capable of overcoming their loss of momentum. They have time and opportunity. But, as the Gators have seen in the recent past, it’s tough to get fickle momentum back once it’s lost.

]]>Florida’s amazing softball run at the SEC Tournament obviously made quite an impression on the NCAA Selection Committee.

Florida (44-15) received the No. 5 national seed on Sunday night and will play host to Boston University (37-18) on Friday at 2:30 p.m.

Florida finished the regular season with a 12-12 SEC record and was not expected to be a national seed, but swept through the conference tourney in College Station, Texas, behind tournament MVP Kelly Barnhill.

Barnhill won three straight games and only allowed one run in those games.

The first game in the Gainesville Regional will pit Boise State (34-14) against Stanford (32-18) at noon. The winners and losers from the first day will play on Saturday in the double elimination tournament.

Florida will be playing in the NCAA Tournament for the 20th time and 17th consecutively. The Gators are 84-42 in tournament play, 79-30 under Tim Walton.

Florida has hosted the first round of the regionals every year the Gators have advanced to the tournament.

Walton’s UF teams have only failed to get out the regional play twice — in his first season (2006) and in 2012.

By securing a national seed, Florida would play host to the Super Regionals if the Gators advance out of this weekend.

The regional opposite Florida’s side includes 12th-seeded Tennessee, meaning Florida could face an SEC team in the Super Regionals for the fifth straight season.

The other teams in that regional are North Carolina, Ohio State and Longwood.

Florida is the highest seed from the SEC as regular-season champ Alabama is the eighth seed despite sweeping Florida in the regular season. LSU (10th seed), Ole Miss (11) and Kentucky (14) also will host regionals from the SEC. The conference ended up with 13 of the 64 teams in the NCAAs.

Defending national champion FSU is the fourth seed.

Ticket Information

All fans will be able to order tickets beginning Tuesday at 1 p.m. while Florida softball season ticket holders still have the opportunity to put in their order now.

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Pat Dooley Vols take series from Gators in regular-season home capperhttp://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/vols-take-series-from-gators-in-regular-season-home-capper/
http://www.gatorsports.com/2019/05/vols-take-series-from-gators-in-regular-season-home-capper/#commentsSun, 12 May 2019 20:50:47 +0000http://www.gatorsports.com/?p=42991Gators head to Missouri for final series of regular season

All weekend long against Tennessee, the Florida baseball team couldn’t avoid a big inning from the Vols offense.

Despite holding a 4-1 lead after six complete innings, the Gators allowed Tennessee to score four in the top of the seventh to suffer a 5-4 loss Sunday at McKethan Stadium.

Florida went 1-2 in the crucial SEC series and is now 30-23 overall and 10-17 in the league. The Gators appear to be on the outside looking in for an NCAA regional tournament bid.

Florida goes on the road starting Thursday for a three-game series at Missouri and is in must-win mode.

“We’re in a difficult position,” said Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan. “We’ve never really been in this position before.

“It’s just kind of the same thing, we gave up the big inning.”

A great outing by freshman pitcher Nick Pogue in his second career start was wasted. The freshman allowed a hit, walk and run in 5.1 innings of work and left his outing holding a three-run lead.

After five shutout innings against USF on Tuesday, Pogue gave up one run, three hits, two walks and struck out six to give the Gators pitching staff a boost.

“I thought I threw really well,” Pogue said. “Again, I was able to work off fastball command. My change-up was a little off today but I was able to work out of it.”

The game was tied 1-1 after three innings after Tennessee’s Evan Russell hit a solo home run in the second and a fielder’s choice on a grounder by Brady McConnell scored Jud Fabian in the third.

The Gators took the lead for the first time in the fifth inning after Fabian’s single during a well-executed hit-and-run plated Jacob Young.

McConnell then hit his third home run of the weekend and, with it, set a record for home runs by a Gators shortstop in a single season with 15. McConnell surpassed Mark Ellis, who hit 14 in 1998.

Langworthy made it back-to-back jacks for Florida, just the second time the Gators have accomplished that feat. The junior from Williston knocked the ball off the scoreboard bearing his likeness to put Florida up 4-1.

Tennessee (35-17, 12-15) struck back in the top of the seventh when Vols junior shortstop Ricky Martinez hit a three-run homer off reliever Nolan Crisp – Martinez’s first of the season – to tie the contest at 4.

A single by Connor Pavolony and double from Justin Ammons put runners on second and third right after and Tennessee took the lead when Pavolony came home on Jay Charleston’s groundout.

In the eighth inning, McConnell and Langworthy looked close to tying the game with one swing but both of the players’ bid for a second home run in the game died on the warning track as long outs to right field.

“As far as the team goes, it’s just extremely disappointing,” Langworthy said.